The images from Planet Labs PBC show that roofs have been built over two damaged buildings at the Isfahan and Natanz facilities.
As tensions soar over Iran’s bloody crackdown on nationwide protests, satellite images show activity at two Iranian nuclear sites bombed last year by Israel and the United States that may be a sign of Tehran trying to obscure efforts to salvage any materials remaining there.
The images from Planet Labs PBC show that roofs have been built over two damaged buildings at the Isfahan and Natanz facilities, the first major activity noticeable by satellite at any of the country’s stricken nuclear sites since Israel’s 12-day war with Iran in June.Roofs seen in Isfahan and Natanz
Those coverings block satellites from seeing what’s happening on the ground — right now, it’s the only way for inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency to monitor the sites, as Iran has prevented access.
The new roofs do not appear to be a sign of reconstruction starting at the heavily damaged facilities, experts who examined the sites said. Instead, they are likely part of Iran’s efforts « to assess whether key assets — such as limited stocks of highly enriched uranium — survived the strikes », said Andrea Stricker, who studies Iran for the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies, which has been sanctioned by Tehran.
« They want to be able to get at any recovered assets they can get to without Israel or the United States seeing what survived », she said.
The main above-ground enrichment building at Natanz was known as the Pilot Fuel Enrichment Plant. Israel hit the building on June 13, leaving it « functionally destroyed », and « seriously damaging » underground halls holding cascades of centrifuges, the IAEA’s director-general, Rafael Mariano Grossi, said at the time.
