Shafaq News / Israel's attack on Iran in late October destroyed a secret nuclear weapons research facility in Parchin, US and Israeli officials reported on Friday.
“The strike, which targeted a site previously reported to be inactive, significantly damaged Iran's effort over the past year to resume nuclear weapons research,” Axios quoted Israeli and US officials.
A former Israeli official briefed on the strike said it destroyed sophisticated equipment used to design the plastic explosives that surround uranium in a nuclear device and are needed to detonate it.
“One of the targets of the Israeli strike on Oct. 25 was the Taleghan 2 facility in the Parchin military complex, about 20 miles southeast of Tehran. The facility was part of the Iranian Amad nuclear weapons program until Iran halted its military nuclear program in 2003. It was used for testing explosives needed to set off a nuclear device, according to the Institute for Science and International Security”, Axios mentioned in its article.
“High-resolution satellite imagery acquired by the institute after the Israeli strike showed the Taleghan 2 building was completely destroyed,” it further revealed.
Israeli and US officials stated that the recent activity at the Taleghan 2 facility was part of an initiative within the Iranian government to carry out research potentially aimed at developing nuclear weapons, while also being framed as research for civilian applications, the article continued.
“They conducted scientific activity that could lay the ground for the production of a nuclear weapon. It was a top-secret thing. A small part of the Iranian government knew about this, but most of the Iranian government didn't,” a US official said to Axios.
Israeli and US intelligence first began identifying research activity at Parchin earlier this year, which included Iranian scientists working on computer modeling, metallurgy, and explosive research that could be applied to the development of nuclear weapons.
Last June, the White House officials privately warned the Iranians in direct conversations about the suspicious research activities, Axios reported.
“The US hoped the warning would make the Iranians stop their nuclear activity, but they continued, the officials said. A US official said that in the months before the Israeli attack "there was concern across the board" about the Iranian activity at the Taleghan 2 facility,” the article proceeded.
The ongoing research into Iranian nuclear weapons prompted the US Director of National Intelligence (DNI) to revise its assessment of Iran's nuclear program.
However, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a statement last week that "Iran is not after nuclear weapons, period. This is a policy based on Islamic teachings and our security calculations."
On October 26, the Israeli military confirmed it had targeted military sites in Iran in retaliation for Iranian missile strikes against Israel on October 1. Iran characterized its missile attack as a response to the killing of its backed leaders and a member of the Revolutionary Guard.