Satellite images reveal limits of Israeli strikes on Iran’s nuclear infrastructure

• High-resolution satellite imagery analyzed by former IAEA inspector Robert Kelley reveals only superficial damage at key sites like Natanz and Isfahan, with critical infrastructure largely intact and repairable within months.
• A 409-kilogram stockpile of near weapons-grade uranium has gone unmonitored since IAEA inspections halted due to the Israeli airstrikes, raising fears Iran could be relocating the material beyond detection.
• The deeply buried Fordow enrichment facility is considered impervious to Israeli weapons and its destruction would likely require U.S. bunker-buster bombs, escalating the stakes for American involvement.
• Experts emphasize that Iran’s nuclear infrastructure is decentralized, fortified and designed to survive limited attacks, making any serious rollback effort dependent on a large-scale military campaign.

A Bloomberg investigation has cast doubt on the effectiveness of Israel’s recent bombardment of Iranian nuclear infrastructure. High-resolution satellite images analyzed by former International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspector Robert Kelley, published on June 20, shows that Israeli air raids have inflicted only superficial damage on Iran’s heavily fortified nuclear facilities.

Among the sites analyzed was the Natanz enrichment complex, long viewed as a linchpin of Iran’s nuclear program. Imagery from June 17 shows limited external damage, mostly to auxiliary electrical systems. “They did damage but left a lot intact,” said Kelley, a former director of U.S. satellite intelligence labs, adding that these components can be repaired “within months.” (Related: Trump refuses to sign G7 statement on Israel-Iran conflict.)

One such site, the Isfahan conversion facility, was reportedly targeted on June 15. However, satellite images from the following day reveal minimal visible impact. The Isfahan facility had previously housed a 409-kilogram stockpile of near weapons-grade uranium. That material is now missing from IAEA oversight after inspectors were denied access in the aftermath of the Israeli raids.

Concerns are mounting that Iran could be moving its stockpiled uranium under what Tehran describes as “special measures.” Experts warn that such material could now be stored in as few as 16 small canisters, making them highly mobile and far more difficult to track or strike.

Even more formidable is the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant, located near the city of Qom. The underground facility, buried beneath at least 100 meters of mountain rock, is considered all but impervious to conventional airstrikes, beyond the reach of Israeli forces, which lack the aircraft capable of deploying the U.S.-made GBU-57 “bunker buster” bombs required to destroy it.

“Any competent designer will have backup power,” Kelley noted. “The problem is that Iran prepared for this decades ago.”

Iran’s nuclear program is built to withstand bombs

The findings underscore the immense difficulty of degrading Iran’s nuclear capabilities without resorting to a large-scale military campaign. Iran’s nuclear program, experts said, is designed to withstand limited strikes, with interconnected facilities spanning the entire fuel cycle – mining, enrichment, fuel fabrication and waste management – spread across multiple hardened locations.

Iran operates a decentralized, fortified network of facilities that spans the entire nuclear fuel cycle, from uranium mining in Saghand and Gchine to conversion and enrichment in Isfahan, Natanz, and Fordow.

At the center of this network is Isfahan’s Nuclear Technology and Research Center, a sprawling complex that handles the chemical processes necessary to prepare uranium for enrichment.

In other words, Iran’s ability to relocate uranium, its deep underground fortifications and its scientific workforce all complicate any effort to roll back its nuclear program through force alone.

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Watch the June 20 episode of “Brighteon Broadcast News” as Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, talks about if the US bombs Iran, the entire western world is plunged into a spiral of irreversible self-destruction.

This video is from the Health Ranger Report channel on Brighteon.com.

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Sources include:

TheCradle.co

Bloomberg.com

Brighteon.com