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News between Israel and Iran: “Nine dead” in IDF attack on Beirut; Head of Hamas government killed in Gaza, Israel says | World News

News between Israel and Iran: “Nine dead” in IDF attack on Beirut; Head of Hamas government killed in Gaza, Israel says | World News

There are several reports that Israel is planning an attack on Iranian nuclear facilities in response to Tehran’s recent massive rocket fire on Israeli cities.

But where are Iran’s nuclear facilities? This card tells them that, and then we’ll tackle them in turn.

Just for illustrative purposes – we’ll be using the term “nuclear proliferation” a lot below – here’s the definition:

The proliferation of nuclear weapons and, more generally, the spread of nuclear technology and knowledge that could be used for military purposes. The proliferation of nuclear weapons is governed by the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which recognizes five nuclear states: the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, China and France.

Oxford reference

Natanz

One of Iran’s most important uranium enrichment complexes lies on a plain next to mountains outside the Shiite Muslim holy city of Qom, south of Tehran.

Natanz is home to facilities including two enrichment facilities: the massive underground fuel enrichment facility and the above-ground pilot fuel enrichment facility.

In 2002, it was revealed that Iran was secretly building the facility, said to be three floors underground – raising doubts about how successful an Israeli attack could be.

Ford

Another enrichment site is at Fordow – one that is extremely well protected as it is believed to have been dug into a mountainside.

Isfahan

Iran’s second-largest city is home to a large nuclear technology center that includes a fuel-plate manufacturing plant and a uranium conversion plant.

Isfahan has facilities for producing uranium metal, a process that is particularly sensitive to proliferation because it can be used to make the core of a nuclear bomb.

Khondab

There is a partially completed heavy water research reactor in Khondab.

These pose a risk of nuclear proliferation because they can produce plutonium, which, like enriched uranium, can be used to make the core of a nuclear bomb.

Iran has told the International Atomic Energy Agency it plans to start operating the reactor in 2026. In a previous deal in 2015, the reactor’s core was removed and filled with concrete to render it unusable.

Watch: How Israel Might Respond to Iran’s Missile Attack

Tehran

Iran’s nuclear research facilities in its capital Tehran include:
Research reactor.

Bushehr
Iran’s only operating nuclear power plant is in the Bushehr region on the Gulf coast.

The plant uses Russian fuel, which Moscow takes back after it is used up, thereby reducing the risk of proliferation.

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