IAEA: Nearly all 15,000 Natanz centrifuges likely destroyed

All of the 15,000 centrifuges operating at Iran’s largest uranium enrichment facility in Natanz were badly damaged or destroyed by last week’s Israeli attack, the International Atomic Energy Agency said on Monday.

“Our assessment is that with this sudden loss of external power, in great probability the centrifuges have been severely damaged if not destroyed altogether,” said IAEA Director Rafael Grossi during an interview with the BBC.

“I think there has been damage inside” the underground portion of the facility, Grossi continued. The above-ground enrichment plant at Natanz was destroyed during the attack.

Grossi was expanding on an update he gave hours earlier at an exceptional meeting of the agency’s 35-nation Board of Governors in Vienna, Austria.

His comments add credibility to an earlier IDF confirmation that the facility sustained “significant damage.”

“As part of the strikes, the underground area of the site was damaged. This area contains a multi-story enrichment hall with centrifuges, electrical rooms and additional supporting infrastructure,” the military said.

Other “critical infrastructure” in Iran’s nuclear program was also targeted, according to the IDF.

Israeli strikes have also put the Isfahan nuclear complex out of commission, according to Reuters. Four buildings, including uranium conversion, were reportedly damaged.

“Four buildings were damaged in Friday’s attack: the central chemical laboratory, a uranium conversion plant, the Tehran reactor fuel manufacturing plant, and the UF4 (uranium tetrafluoride) to EU (enriched uranium) metal processing facility, which was under construction,” said Grossi on Monday.

However, Grossi also told the BBC that “in Isfahan you have underground spaces as well, which do not seem to have been affected.” A senior diplomat told Reuters that the underground spaces are where much of Iran’s most highly enriched uranium stock is stored.

The third uranium enrichment facility at Fordow remains operational, despite reported attacks, as it is buried deep inside a mountain near Qom.

Israeli forces also struck Iran’s Arak heavy water reactor complex, but initial assessments indicate the facility sustained little or no damage, according to satellite imagery and analysis from CNN and the BBC.

© JNS