Masoud Pezeshkian, the president of Iran’s regime, recently announced a major reconstruction of the country’s nuclear industry. His statement, made after visiting nuclear facilities in Tehran, has intensified speculation about the resumption of nuclear activities.
Background of the Uranium Enrichment Crisis and the JCPOA
For more than two decades, uranium enrichment has been the central point of conflict between Iran’s regime and global powers. After the “12-day war” and a U.S. military strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities, the U.S. president claimed that Iran’s nuclear capability had been completely destroyed.
UN Watchdog Unable to Verify Tehran’s Uranium Stockpiles for Months
Despite the damage to its facilities, Iran’s regime has declared it will rebuild them. Regime officials have emphasized resuming uranium enrichment and nuclear fuel production. It remains unclear whether the revival of enrichment will take place at the same sites or through newly built facilities.
A U.S. think tank has reported that construction has resumed at one of Iran’s facilities damaged during the 12-day war. These reports come as U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly hinted at possible military action, warning that if Iran restarts its nuclear program, the United States “will deal with it.”
Warnings from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
Rafael Grossi, Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, has said that Iran must take its cooperation with the agency more seriously to avoid escalating tensions with the West. He told the Financial Times that if cooperation does not improve, he will be forced to report that oversight of these materials—408 kilograms of highly enriched uranium—has been lost.
Tehran appears to be paying little attention to Trump’s threats. Immediately after the attacks, Mohammad Eslami, head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, announced readiness to rebuild the nuclear facilities. Eslami said: “We have taken the necessary measures… and our planning is aimed at preventing any interruption in production and services.”
Reports by Western media and think tanks, based on satellite imagery, indicate that Iran has resumed construction. This activity has been observed at an underground site that was reportedly intended to become the third uranium enrichment facility prior to the 12-day war.
In June, the IAEA Board of Governors passed a resolution against Iran. Just hours before the attack, Tehran announced it would activate its third uranium enrichment facility. Speculation suggests that this new site was being built near Natanz, deep within the Kolang Gaz La mountain.
Construction of this underground complex began about five years ago, following a sabotage operation at the Natanz advanced centrifuge assembly center. Western media report that the new site was intended to be a secure location for building and assembling advanced centrifuges. It is built at a depth far greater than the Fordow facility.
Researchers at the U.S.-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) claim that construction has resumed at one of Iran’s uranium enrichment sites. They note that it is too early to make definite judgments about the nature of the new activity.
CSIS researchers put forward three possibilities for the activity at Kolang Mountain:
1. Iran’s regime is attempting to build the centrifuge assembly facility according to its original plan, with construction speed indicating earlier-than-expected operational readiness.
2. The regime may have expanded the mission of Kolang Mountain and moved activities such as metallurgy there.
3. Iran may be pursuing a covert uranium enrichment facility inside Kolang Mountain, which could increase its existing stock of 400 kilograms of 60% enriched uranium.
Official sources of Iran’s regime have remained silent about the reconstruction plans and how nuclear activities will be resumed. It is unclear how much the IAEA knows about the new activity at Kolang Mountain, and the agency has not issued any statement acknowledging the construction of new uranium enrichment facilities by Iran.
For decades, Iran’s regime sought to conceal all of its nuclear activities. The world learned of the program only after the National Council of Resistance of Iran exposed it in 2002.
Iran’s regime has never ceased pursuing the development of its nuclear program to obtain nuclear weapons and, according to some sources, has spent 2 trillion dollars on it. Meanwhile, more than half of Iran’s population faces poverty and hunger.
Iran’s regime has an urgent need for nuclear weapons to ensure its survival, allowing it to continue suppressing the Iranian people and maintaining its terrorist interventions outside Iran.
