Europe more skeptical… After Western sanctions, Iran is working on building an underground nuclear facility
The Associated Press reports that Iran is building a nuclear facility so deep underground that U.S. weapons won’t be able to destroy it, as satellite imagery compiled by Planet Labs BBC shows workers digging tunnels in the Zagros Mountains near the Natanz nuclear site in central Iran.
The CIA analysis indicates that the new facility is being built between 260 feet and 328 feet underground, where the GBU-57 bomb, invented in response to another underground Iranian nuclear facility discovered in 2009, is designed to destroy sites as deep as 200 feet underground.
Iranian abuses
According to the U.S. agency, Iran’s steps come five years after the U.S. withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal, and under the 2015 agreement Iran agreed to limit its uranium stockpile and enrich uranium to only 3.67%, a purity needed to operate nuclear power plants. In return, Iran was granted an exemption from sanctions imposed by the United States, the European Union, and the United Nations Security Council.
It continued: Since the US unilaterally withdrew from the deal in 2018, Iran has said it is enriching uranium up to 60%. The United Nations reported last month that Iran had enriched uranium up to 83.7%, a worrying 90% increase in the amount needed to produce a nuclear weapon, and Iran’s uranium stockpile has increased tenfold since the nuclear deal fell.
Western Steps
The images were released as the European Union approved a new sanctions list that includes senior Iranian government officials in connection with the recent series of executions, the news agency said.
Recent European moves indicate that it is becoming more skeptical about Iran’s hostile stance and support for terrorist groups in the Middle East, beyond suppressing protests and unwilling change that could ease the mullahs’ grip on power.
