Latest news with #DavidAlbright
Wall Street Journal
3 days ago
- Politics
- Wall Street Journal
Attacks ‘Effectively Destroyed' Iran's Program
This is an excerpt from 'Post-Attack Assessment of the First 12 Days of Israeli Strikes on Iranian Nuclear Facilities' published June 24 by David Albright and Spencer Faragasso of the Institute for Science and International Security. After 12 days of military operations, a survey of the resulting damage is appropriate. . . . Overall, Israel's and U.S. attacks have effectively destroyed Iran's centrifuge enrichment program. It will be a long time before Iran comes anywhere near the capability it had before the attack. That being said, there are residuals such as stocks of 60%, 20%, and 3-5% enriched uranium and the centrifuges manufactured but not yet installed at Natanz or Fordow. These non-destroyed parts pose a threat as they can be used in the future to produce weapon-grade uranium.
Free Malaysia Today
4 days ago
- Politics
- Free Malaysia Today
Satellite images indicate severe damage to Fordow, but doubts remain
A satellite image shows craters and ash on a ridge above Iran's Fordow underground uranium site following US airstrikes. (EPA Images pic) WASHINGTON : Commercial satellite imagery indicates the US attack on Iran's Fordow nuclear plant severely damaged – and possibly destroyed – the deeply-buried site and the uranium-enriching centrifuges it housed, but there was no confirmation, experts said on Sunday. 'They just punched through with these MOPs,' said David Albright, a former UN nuclear inspector who heads the Institute for Science and International Security, referring to the Massive Ordnance Penetrator bunker-busting bombs that the US said it dropped. 'I would expect that the facility is probably toast.' But confirmation of the below-ground destruction could not be determined, noted Decker Eveleth, an associate researcher with the CNA Corporation who specialises in satellite imagery. The hall containing hundreds of centrifuges is 'too deeply buried for us to evaluate the level of damage based on satellite imagery,' he said. To defend against attacks such as the one conducted by US forces early on Sunday, Iran buried much of its nuclear programme in fortified sites deep underground, including into the side of a mountain at Fordow. Satellite images show six holes where the bunker-busting bombs appear to have penetrated the mountain, and then ground that looks disturbed and covered in dust. The US and Israel have said they intend to halt Tehran's nuclear programme. But a failure to completely destroy its facilities and equipment could mean Iran could more easily restart the weapons program that US intelligence and the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) say it shuttered in 2003. 'Unususal activity' Several experts also cautioned that Iran likely moved a stockpile of near weapons-grade highly enriched uranium out of Fordow before the strike early Sunday morning and could be hiding it and other nuclear components in locations unknown to Israel, the US and UN nuclear inspectors. They noted satellite imagery from Maxar Technologies showing 'unusual activity' at Fordow on Thursday and Friday, with a long line of vehicles waiting outside an entrance of the facility. A senior Iranian source told Reuters on Sunday most of the near weapons-grade 60% highly enriched uranium had been moved to an undisclosed location before the US attack. 'I don't think you can with great confidence do anything but set back their nuclear programme by maybe a few years,' said Jeffrey Lewis of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. 'There's almost certainly facilities that we don't know about.' Arizona senator Mark Kelly, a Democrat and member of the senate intelligence committee who said he had been reviewing intelligence every day, expressed the same concern. 'My big fear right now is that they take this entire programme underground, not physically underground, but under the radar,' he told NBC News. 'Where we tried to stop it, there is a possibility that this could accelerate it.' Iran long has insisted that its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes. But in response to Israel's attacks, Iran's parliament is threatening to withdraw from the Non-Proliferation Treaty, the cornerstone of the international system that went into force in 1970 to stop the spread of nuclear weapons, ending cooperation with the IAEA. 'The world is going to be in the dark about what Iran may be doing,' said Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association advocacy group. 'Double tap' Reuters spoke to four experts who reviewed Maxar Technologies satellite imagery of Fordow showing six neatly spaced holes in two groups in the mountain ridge beneath which the hall containing the centrifuges is believed to be located. General Dan Caine, chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, told reporters that seven B-2 bombers dropped 14 GBU-57/B MOPs, 30,000-pound precision-guided bombs designed to drive up to 200 feet into hardened underground facilities like Fordow, according to a 2012 congressional report. Caine said initial assessments indicated that the sites suffered extremely severe damage, but declined to speculate about whether any nuclear facilities remained intact. Eveleth said the Maxar imagery of Fordow and Caine's comments indicated that the B-2s dropped an initial load of six MOPs on Fordow, followed by a 'double tap' of six more in the exact same spots. Operation Midnight Hammer also targeted Tehran's main uranium enrichment facility at Natanz, he said, and struck in Isfahan, the location of the country's largest nuclear research centre. There are other nuclear-related sites near the city. Israel had already struck Natanz and the Isfahan Nuclear Research Center in its 10-day war with Iran. Albright said in a post on X that Airbus Defence and Space satellite imagery showed that US Tomahawk cruise missiles severely damaged a uranium facility at Isfahan and an impact hole above the underground enrichment halls at Natanz reportedly caused by a Massive Ordnance Penetrator bunker-busting bomb that 'likely destroyed the facility.' Albright questioned the US use of cruise missiles in Isfahan, saying that those weapons could not penetrate a tunnel complex near the main nuclear research centre believed to be even deeper than Fordow. The IAEA said the tunnel entrances 'were impacted.' He noted that Iran recently informed the IAEA that it planned to install a new uranium enrichment plant in Isfahan. 'There may be 2,000 to 3,000 more centrifuges that were slated to go into this new enrichment plant,' he said. 'Where are they?'
Scientific American
5 days ago
- Politics
- Scientific American
Did the U.S. Really Destroy Iran's Nuclear Program?
Many in the world woke to the news on 22 June that the United States had bombed nuclear sites in Iran, with the goal of destroying the nation's ability to produce nuclear weapons. The raids targeted Iran's uranium-enrichment facilities in Fordow and Natanz, and its nuclear research centre in Isfahan, using stealth bombers to drop massive 'bunker-busters', and cruise missiles. Although Iran says its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes, experts have long assessed that Iran was close to having the capability of building nuclear weapons if it chose to do so. The US attacks followed a bombing campaign by Israel, which has since carried out further attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities. On 23 June, the International Atomic Energy Agency reported that "very significant damage is expected to have occurred" at the underground Fordow site. Researchers at academic institutions and think tanks are also assessing the potential impacts of the attacks on Iran's nuclear capabilities. Analysts have said that the attacks probably set the nuclear programme back substantially, but not permanently. In particular, Iran could have moved stockpiles of highly-enriched uranium, and perhaps some enrichment centrifuges, elsewhere. David Albright, a nuclear policy specialist and president of the Institute for Science and International Security in Washington DC, spoke to Nature about what researchers know. On supporting science journalism If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today. How do you assess the impact of the bombings on Iran's nuclear capabilities? There aren't many researchers who are able to assess the impact of the bombings. We have decades of experience with the Iranian nuclear programme, so we know their facilities and activities very well. And we have great access to satellite imagery — which we have to buy. We try to buy some every day. And we utilize analysts who have decades of experience to analyze these images. We also have lots of contacts with governments, and we have colleagues who also have contacts with governments. A lot of the damage is on the surface, so it's a question of knowing what the building did [in terms of its role in the nuclear program]. We rely on our repository of information about the sites that are attacked. So it's pretty straightforward. Obviously, more problematic is the underground sites. When we initially assessed Israel's bombing of Natanz, three days later I saw a very small crater above the underground hall. I could work out and link it to a type of Earth-penetrator weapon that Israel is known to have. It would leave a really small crater when it went in, and the damage would be underground. The United States bombed it with a much more powerful Earth penetrator. So damage is probably more extensive. How and when will we know for sure the extent of the damage? As nuclear experts, we'd like to see this done with diplomatic agreements, where Iran would allow intrusive inspections into its programme. If that does not happen, then it's the job of US and Israeli intelligence to assess the damage. They're looking at communications intercepts, or trying to recruit people on the inside to reveal information. Would there be radioactive materials detected outside Natanz, Esfahan and Fordow if the attacks were successful? So far, the IAEA reports no such leaks. And it appears that Iran had moved the enriched uranium stockpiles in the days before the bombings. The United States has said that the target of its bombings was the facilities, so they understand they are not getting at the nuclear material. Can shockwaves damage enrichment facilities even without a direct hit? Shockwaves can cause a lot of damage. They will push against the centrifuges, and if they're spinning, it can cause the rotor inside to crash against the wall. It's anyone's guess how much is destroyed without additional information. But the idea of the US bombing was that Israel may not have done enough damage. Would it pose more serious environmental risks if Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant were bombed? Israel has said it will not attack nuclear reactors. And Israel negotiated with Russia not to attack the Russians who operate Bushehr. But yes, it really could be disastrous. The decay products of uranium fission that accumulate inside a reactor are much more dangerous than the uranium itself. That's why you don't want to have a nuclear reactor involved in a war.
New York Post
5 days ago
- Politics
- New York Post
Trump lashes out at ‘gutless losers' CNN, MSNBC for suggesting US didn't completely destroy Iran nuclear sites
President Trump slammed CNN and MSNBC in a blistering attack Tuesday after the networks suggested that Iran's nuclear targets were not completely destroyed in US air strikes over the weekend. 'I see CNN all night long, they're trying to say, 'Well, maybe it wasn't really as demolished as we thought,'' Trump told reporters as he prepared to jet off to a NATO summit in the Netherlands. 3 Trump slammed 'fake news' networks CNN and MSNBC for suggesting Saturday's strikes on Iran didn't destroy their targets. AP Advertisement 3 A U.S. Air Force B-2 Spirit lands after supporting 'Operation Midnight Hammer' at Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri, June 2025. 509th Bomb Wing/USAF / SWNS 3 Satellite image shows a close up view of destroyed buildings at Isfahan Nuclear Technology Center, after it was hit by U.S. airstrikes, in Isfahan, Iran, June 22, 2025. via REUTERS 'I think CNN ought to apologize to the pilots of the B-2s, I think MSNBC ought to apologize. Cable networks are real losers, you're gutless losers,' he added, before boarding Air Force One. Advertisement The president's ire came as a former UN nuclear weapons inspector said that he believes Iran's nuclear centrifuge program, used to enrich uranium close to weapons-grade levels, was obliterated in the attacks. 'It's amazing how much damage has been done to that program. I think that part of the mission has been accomplished,' David Albright, now president of the Institute for Science and International Security, told CNN.
New York Post
6 days ago
- Politics
- New York Post
Satellite images show trucks lined up at Iran's Fordo nuclear facility before US air strikes
Satellite images appeared to show scores of trucks lined up at Iran's Fordow nuclear facility just days before the US carried out its large-scale airstrikes — as speculation swirled that Tehran may have been able to move its uranium stockpiles before the attacks. The images, released by US defense contractor Maxar Technologies, captured more than a dozen cargo-style trucks lined up outside the Fordow nuclear enrichment site's tunnel entrance on Thursday and Friday. The vehicles, which came and went over a 24-hour stretch, appeared to move unidentified contents roughly half a mile away, the Free Press reported, citing US officials. US and Israeli intelligence officials were aware of the movement at the time but opted not to act so they could track where the trucks headed and await President Trump's order to carry out the strikes, the officials added. Images released by US defense contractor Maxar Technologies showed more than a dozen trucks lined up outside Iran's Fordow nuclear facility just days before the US carried out its large-scale airstrikes. Satellite image ©2025 Maxar Technologies/AFP via Getty Images Trump gave the green light to launch 75 precision-guided munitions, including bunker-buster bombs and more than two dozen Tomahawk missiles, against Fordow and two other Iranian nuclear sites early Sunday. Iranian state media outlets have since claimed that the Fordow, Isfahan and Natanz sites were evacuated in the lead up to the strikes. Iran hasn't officially disclosed how much damage was sustained in the attack. Trump, for his part, hailed the strikes as a 'Bullseye!!!' Satellite imagery appeared to show that the strikes had severely damaged — or destroyed — the Fordow plant and possibly the uranium-enriching centrifuges it housed. 'Monumental Damage was done to all Nuclear sites in Iran,' Trump said in a Truth Social post. 'The biggest damage took place far below ground level. Bullseye!!!' Satellite imagery appeared to show that the strikes had severely damaged — or destroyed — the Fordow plant. AP Still, US defense officials have said they are working to determine just how much damage the strikes did as speculation mounted that Iran could have shifted uranium from the underground military complex. 'I wish the Israelis had moved quicker to disable Fordow,' David Albright, a former United Nations weapons inspector, told The Free Press in the wake of the attacks. 'It's still a mystery exactly what was in those trucks. But any highly enriched uranium at Fordow was likely gone before the attack.' Secretary of State Marco Rubio told NBC's 'Meet the Press' that he doubts Iran was able to move anything prior to the attacks but acknowledged 'no one will know for sure for days.' 'I doubt they moved it,' he said. 'They can't move anything right now inside of Iran. I mean, the minute a truck starts driving somewhere, the Israelis have seen it, and they've targeted it and taken it out.' He added that US officials believe a significant amount of Iran's stockpile of 60% uranium had been located in the Isfahan facility when it was targeted. 'Our assessment is we have to assume that that's a lot of 60% enriched uranium buried deep under the ground there in Isfahan,' he said. Rubio didn't specifically mention Fordow or Natanz but said Iran should now bring its stockpile 'out of the ground and turn it over.' 'That really is the key,' Rubio said. 'Multiple countries around the world will take it and down blend it. That's what they should do with that.' With Post wires
