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The latest in the Middle East: ‘Hezbollah leader’s replacement and replacement killed,’ Netanyahu says | World News

The latest in the Middle East: ‘Hezbollah leader’s replacement and replacement killed,’ Netanyahu says | World News

Fears are growing that Israel could attack Iranian nuclear facilities in response to Tehran’s recent massive rocket fire on Israeli cities.

And if you read our previous post, Israel’s former prime minister Naftali Bennett said now is the time for the country to carry out such an attack.

But where are Iran’s nuclear facilities? This map shows the main locations – and we’ll go through each location.

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, which also includes a fuel panel 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.

They pose a nuclear proliferation risk 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 a 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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