Iran is currently building an extensive underground facility and network of tunnels near its Natanz nuclear plant, The New York Times reported on Thursday.
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Natanz is Iran's chief enrichment complex and houses both its commercial fuel enrichment plant and a uranium enrichment facility. The complex consists of three underground buildings and six topside buildings. The more sensitive facilities in the complex are all underground to protect them from an aerial assault.
Citing Israeli and US intelligence sources, the report noted that the construction's outline resembles the one employed in the Fordo fuel enrichment plant. The plant, located 20 miles northeast of the Iranian city of Qom at a former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps base, was also built under a mountain to protect it from airstrikes.
The construction of the complex tunnel network south of the main Natanz facility has been monitored by intelligence officials using satellite imagery, the NYT noted, adding the underground facility has been clearly designed to withstand cyberattacks and any use of bunker-buster bombs, which are munition designed to penetrate targets buried deep underground, especially in mountainous terrain.
Commenting on Iran's actions in Natanz, Defense Minister Benny Gantz said last month that the Islamic republic "is working to complete the production of the centrifuges in its nuclear facilities, including a new underground complex near Natanz."
The report further cited Israeli officials, who said they believed Iran's plans to enrich uranium at the new underground facility using advanced centrifuges.
The report further ventured that the construction has been accelerated following the alleged joint US-Israeli operation targeting systems in Natanz, as well as the recent series of deaths among high-ranking IRGC officers, for which Iran has blamed Israel.
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