Satellite photos show Israel hit Iran former nuclear weapons test building, missile facilities, researchers say

In posts on X, Albright said commercial satellite imagery showed that Israel hit a building in Parchin called Taleghan 2 that was used for testing activities during the Amad Plan, Iran’s defunct nuclear weapons development programme.

The UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, and US intelligence say Iran shuttered the programme in 2003. Iran denies pursuing nuclear weapons.

Albright, head of the Institute for Science and International Security research group, was given access to the programme’s files for a book after they were stolen from Tehran by Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency in 2018.

On X, he said the archives revealed that Iran kept important test equipment in Taleghan 2.

Iran may have removed key materials before the air strike, he said, but “even if no equipment remained inside” the building would have provided “intrinsic value” for future nuclear weapons-related activities.

Albright told Reuters that commercial satellite imagery of Parchin showed Israel damaged three buildings about 350m from Taleghan 2, including two in which solid fuel for ballistic missiles was mixed.

He did not identify the commercial firm from which he obtained the images.

Eveleth said an image of Parchin from Planet Labs, a commercial satellite firm, showed that Israel destroyed three ballistic missile solid fuel mixing buildings and a warehouse in the sprawling complex.

Planet Labs imagery also showed that an Israeli strike destroyed two buildings in the Khojir complex where solid fuel for ballistic missiles was mixed, he said.

The buildings were enclosed by high dirt berms, according to the image reviewed by Reuters. Such structures are associated with missile production and are designed to stop a blast in one building from detonating combustible materials in nearby structures.

“Israel says they targeted buildings housing solid-fuel mixers,” Eveleth said. “These industrial mixers are hard to make and export-controlled. Iran imported many over the years at great expense, and will likely have a hard time replacing them.”

With a limited operation, he said, Israel may have struck a significant blow against Iran’s ability to mass-produce missiles and made it more difficult for any future Iranian missile attack to pierce Israel’s missile defenses.

“The strikes appear to be highly accurate,” he said.

Axios reported that Israel destroyed hit 12 “planetary mixers” used to produce solid fuel for long-range ballistic missiles, quoting three unnamed Israeli sources as saying this severely damages Iran’s ability to renew its missile stockpile and could deter Iran from further massive missile strikes against Israel.

Iran has the Middle East’s largest missile arsenal and supplied missiles to Russia for use against Ukraine, and to Yemen’s Houthi rebels and the Lebanese militia Hezbollah, according to US officials.

Tehran and Moscow deny that Russia has received Iranian missiles.

Planet Labs imagery reviewed earlier this year by Eveleth and Jeffrey Lewis of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey showed major expansions at Khojir and the Modarres military complex near Tehran that the pair assessed were for boosting missile production, Reuters reported.

Three senior Iranian officials confirmed that conclusion.