Middle East & Africa | Nearly nuclear

Iran puts its nuclear programme beyond the reach of American bombs

Burrowing deeper into the mountains

This satellite photo from Planet Labs PBC shows construction on a new underground facility at Iran’s Natanz nuclear site near Natanz, Iran, on April 14, 2023.
Image: AP

It is exactly five years since Donald Trump pulled America out of the deal with Iran to constrain its nuclear programme in exchange for economic-sanctions relief. Since then, Iran has not stood still. Satellite pictures appear to confirm that Iran is building a nuclear facility in the Zagros mountains, near the existing Natanz enrichment site (shown above). It seems to be so deep under the ground that it will be invulnerable even to America’s most powerful bunker-busting bomb.

This article appeared in the Middle East & Africa section of the print edition under the headline “Too hot to handle?”

From the June 3rd 2023 edition

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