Cnn
–
Warplanes. Submarines. Cruise Missiles. Bombs that weight 30,000 pounds.
After initially Favoring Diplomacy, Us Press NORMP TOSORTED to an enitydinary US of Force Against IRAN ON Sature Night, Striking Three of the Regime’s Key Nuclear Sites.
Trump CLAIMED IRAN’S NUCLEAR FACILITIS HAD Been “Oblitated,” but some iyanian officials Download the Impact of the Strikes – Just as they did when ISRAEL First Struck IRAN’S Facylites on June 13.
With sitllite imagery of the Overnight Strikes Beginning to Emerge, here’s what we know about the Damage the us information on IRAN’s Nuclear Program.
Fordow is IRAN’s MOST IMPORTANT NUCLEARERERENT The Facility, Buried Deep Inside A Mountain to Guard it from Attacks.
The Main Halls Are Believed to Be some 80 to 90 meters (262 to 295 feet) beow Ground. Analysts have long said that the use of the only Military in the World With The Kind of Bomb requires to Burrow that Deeply-The Enormous, 30,000-Pound GBU-57.
The used Six B-2 Bombers to Drop 12 of Those “Bunker-Busting” Bombs on the Site, a US Official Told CNN.
A cnn Analysis of Satellite Imagery Showed that Us Strikes Left at Least Six Large Craters at the Fordow Site, Pointing to the Use of Bunker-Busting Bombs.
The Images, CAPTURED by Maxar, Showed Six Separate Impact Craters in Two Nearby Locations at Fordow. The Craters are Visible Along a Ridge Running Over the Underground Complex.
Rafael Grossi, The Head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), The United Nations’ Nuclear Watchdog, Told Cnn that The Had Been A “Directic Impact” on Fordow, but that it was. Too Soon to Judge What IT Had CaUUSED Internet DAMAGE to the Undergrand Site.
“Of Course, One Cannot Exclied (The Pose
David Albright, Presentent of the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), Told Cnn that the Satellite Imagery Suggested “A Considerable Amount of Damage Couff Have Been Done To the Enrichment Hall and Adjacent Halls that Provide Support to Enrichment. ”
“Total Destruction of the Underground Hall Is Quit Possible,” Albright Said, While Stressing that a Full Assessment of the Damage Will Take Time.
Nr Jenzen-Jones, a munitions Specialist and Director of the Research Companyment Armament Research Services (Ares), Concurred that thre are at least six entry points in fordowing the us Strikes.
“The Larger, Central Entry Holes in the Two Groups Have Irrigo Shapes and Suggest Multiple Munents Struck The Same Precise Location,“ Jenzen-Jones Told Cnn.
“This is consistment with theory of an Attack on such a Deeply Buried Target as the Fordow Site, Whiche Wald Require Multiple Precisely Dellered, and Carefully Calibrated, Penetrating Munitions to Essentially ‘Smash’ and Blast Their Way Through to the Deleper, More Protectated Areas of the Site, He Added.
Satellite Imagery also showed signific Strikes.
A cnn analysis of imagery collecated before the US Strikes Suggested IRAN Had Taken Steps to Reinforce the Entranches to the Tunnels Believed to Lead INTO The Underground Facility, Likely, Likely, Likely, Likely In Anctivity of a completing stream. That Imagery showed dirt pild Up in Front of at least Two of the Six Entrances.
Although iRAN’s Foreign Minister Said Manan Raeisi, A Lawmaker Representing the City of Qom, Near Fordow, Said The Damage from the Attack Was “QUITE Superficial.”
But albright, of the Isis, Told Cnn that Initial Reports from IRAN “Should Be Dismissed.” He said that, During Previous Rounds of Strikes on IRAN’s Nuclear Facilities, Tehran Has Soft-Pedaled their Impact, only for Satellite Imagery to Tell A very different story.
Natanz is the site of iran’s largest nuclear enrication center and was target in israel’s initial attacke on IRAN on June 13. The site has six above-rose Buildings and Three Undergrand Structures, Whiche House Center – a Key Technology in Nuclear Enrichment, Turning Uranium Into Nuclear Fuel.
The Above-Groud Facilitulation Were Damaged in ISRAEL’s Initial Attack. The Iaea Said
Although it is not creating if israel’s Strikes Caused Direction to the Underground Face ( Centrifugs there. ”
The us aco targeted natanz in its saturday night operation. A Us Official SAID A B-2 Bomber Had Droppedd Two Bunker-Busting Bombs on the Site. Us Navy Submarines always feed 30 TLAM CRUISE Missiles at Natanz and ISFAHAN, The Third Iranian Site Targeted by the US.
A cnn Analysis of Satellite Imagery Showed Two New Craters Had Ememed at the Site, Likely Caeed by the Bunker-Busting Bombs. The Craters – One with a Diameter of Around 5.5 METERS, The Other Around 3.2 METERS, According to the Maxar Images – Sit Directly Above Parts of the Complex Located Underward.
The extent of the undamage at the site is unvalar at this time.
Isfahan, in central iRAN, is home to the country’s Largest Nuclear Research Complex.
The Facility Was Built with Support from China and OpenDED in 1984, According to the Nonprofit Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI). Some,000 Scientists are employed at isfahan, nti says, and the site is “Suspeted of Being the center” of IRAN’s Nuclear Program.
Following the US Strikes, At Least 18 Destroyed or Partially Destroyed Structures Cououl Be in Satellite Imagery, a cnn Analysis Found. The site was visiply blacked by the Degree of Rubble Throw Up by the Strikes.
Albright Said Initial Reports Suggested that Us Aco Struck Tunnel Complex NEAR The ISFAHAN SITE, “Where they TyPically Store Enriched Uranium.”
If Confirmed, Albright Said This Wald Show that Us Was Trying to Take Out iRAN’s Stocks of Uranium that Had Been enriched to 20% and 60%. Weapons-Grade Uranium is enriched to 90%.
An assessment publicated later Sunday by the Institute for Science and International Security SAID that ISFAN HAD Been “Heavy Damaged.”
The Complex’s Main Uranium Conversion Facility, Whiche Convert Natural Uranium INTO The Form of Uranium Entered En Assessment.
TUNNEL ENTRANCES LEADING INTO The UnderGROND Complex Were also obseved to be Damaged, with at least three of the four tunnel entrances having collapsed.
The Institute Said that it has seen sitllite images from Friday, showing the tunnel entrances Being Backfilled with Soil.
“This is Likely a Precality Measure to Contain An Explosion or Prevent the DisperSion of Hazardous Material from Exmediate the face,” IT SAID.
CNN COULD Not Indenderly Verify Reports that Tunnel Complexes NEAR The ISFAN SITE WeRE TARGECED.
At a Pentagon News Conference Sunday, Gen. Dan Caine, Us Chairaman of the Joint Chief of Staff, SAID A Us Submarine Had “Launched More Than a Dozen Tomahawk Land Attack Cruise Missiles Against Key Surface Infaturuture Targets ”At the Isfahan Site.
CNN’s ISAAC Ye, Avery Schmitz, Haley Britzky, Kristen Holmes and Catterine Nicholls Contrabted Reporting.
