Alarming new satellite images show signs that the Iranian regime appears to be rebuilding its suspected nuclear facilities at Pickaxe Mountain and Parchin.
Footage of both areas – which sustained extensive damage during US and Israeli-led bombing campaigns that began in late February – reveal “major signs” of activity, according to CNN, which obtained images from private firms.
Such construction likely runs afoul of the Memorandum of Understanding that Iran and US negotiators reached last month during a cease-fire that President Trump called “over” following Iranian attacks on shipping vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.
US and Israeli forces repeatedly targeted the Parchin site, which the Iranians had covered with a protective concrete shield, in the joint air campaign that was launched on Feb. 28.
But a series of large blast holes, which were clearly visible on June 10, had been covered over 12 days later.
By July 7, the damage was covered with mesh material and concrete mixer trucks were visible at the ready nearby.
It shows “significant, new attempted reconstruction activity,” wrote David Albright, founder of the Institute for Science and International Security in a Saturday analysis of the information.
“While imagery from early June indicates damage assessment and clean-up, including the removal of debris and temporary covering of the three impact holes of the buried facility, the newer imagery shows renewed activity at the impact holes for more permanent sealing as well as additional concrete hardening of the site,” according to a new paper published by the organization Saturday, as Iranian and Omani officials met in Muscat while staring down the barrel of a US ultimatum to keep the strait open.
The Parchin Military Complex has long been suspected of housing secret nuclear activities. International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors visited the site in 2004 and 2005, and said they were denied access to certain areas in 2006.
The complex also houses missile production facilities, which produce the weapons Iran uses to menace its US allied neighbors in the Gulf region.
Its Teleghan 2 site was hit twice in the latest phase of the Iran war – first around March 11, and then again sometime between March 24 and April 1, according to reports.
All the while Tehran has repeatedly displayed its determination to rebuild it.
“This work shows a commitment by Iran to rebuild and reconstitute the capabilities previously lost, despite the immense damage at the site,” the Institute for Science and International Security report said. “This would be the second attempt at reconstruction.”
Other images show vehicles traveling in and out of the regime’s Pickaxe Mountain facility, which western intelligence agencies have long suspected of housing nuclear enrichment activities deep underground.
The MOU states that Iran will “maintain the current status quo of its nuclear program,” which would seem to disallow new construction.
Meanwhile, satellites did not appear to pick up activity at some of Iran’s most notorious nuclear sites like Natanz, Fordow and Isfahan.
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