Fresh strikes intensify efforts to dismantle Iran’s nuclear weapons program

(SeaPRwire) –   New initiatives by the U.S. and Israel to eliminate the final remnants of Iran’s nuclear program have been prompted by the regime’s continued possession of key atomic weapons sites and materials, specifically highly enriched uranium.

In a Friday statement, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced its “Air Force Struck the Arak Heavy Water Plant — A Key Plutonium Production Site for Nuclear Weapons.” The facility is situated in central Iran.

Before the Friday strike, an IDF spokesperson, commenting on Arak, informed Digital that there is a “high estimation” that assaults on “uranium enrichment sites are part of the plan.”:

The IDF did not provide more detailed answers regarding its list of targets or whether ground missions to secure weapons-grade uranium were under consideration.

Citing the regime’s media outlet Fars, Reuters reported that Friday’s joint U.S.-Israeli strikes targeted the Khondab heavy water research reactor.

An IDF statement explained, “Heavy water is a specialized material used to run nuclear reactors, like the inactive Arak reactor, which was initially intended to produce weapons-grade plutonium. These substances can also serve as a neutron source for nuclear weapons.

“The plant represented a major economic asset for the terror regime and provided revenue for the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization, earning the regime tens of millions of dollars annually.”

Iran’s foreign minister issued a condemnation of Israel and cautioned the Jewish state, “Iran will exact a HEAVY price for Israeli crimes.”

A publication from the Washington, D.C.-based Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) stated, “The IR-40 Arak, also known as Khondab, Heavy Water Reactor and Heavy Water Production Plant originate from the early 2000s. … The reactor core design was perfect for generating significant quantities of weapon-grade plutonium for nuclear weapons.”

Jason Brodsky, policy director of United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), told Digital, “The sole nuclear site that has not been struck so far is Pickaxe Mountain, so hitting that location as part of Operation Epic Fury will be crucial to further weakening Iran’s nuclear program.”

A White House spokesperson directed Digital to President Trump’s remarks about Iran’s nuclear weapons program during a Cabinet meeting.

“We’re free to roam over their cities and towns and destroy all of their crazy nuclear weapons and missiles and drones that they’re building,” Trump stated on Thursday.

David Albright, a physicist and the founder and president of the Institute for Science and International Security, informed Digital that regarding the key nuclear facilities still standing, “The elephants in the tent are Natanz and Isfahan. The Iranians disclosed an attack on Natanz, but the Israelis stated they were unaware of any attack. Therefore, it must have been the U.S.”

He confirmed that Natanz contains enriched uranium.

“The Iranians were conducting recovery work at the underground fuel enrichment plant there and were still constructing the Pickaxe Mountain tunnel complex, which has the capacity to store enriched uranium. Immediately adjacent is another tunnel complex built much earlier, around 2007. … The Iranians have sealed and fortified it. There is clearly something significant there.”

Albright noted that U.S. and Israeli airstrikes “have not targeted the underground Isfahan site. We are aware, based on IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] reports, that highly enriched uranium is present at that location. An enrichment plant may be under construction within that underground facility. We want that site to be attacked.”

Albright cautioned that the conflict must not conclude similarly to the prior U.S.-Israel war with Iran in 2025, which left Tehran in possession of the “crown jewels” of its nuclear weapons program—highly enriched uranium and numerous centrifuges.

“You don’t want it to emerge from this war with the same nuclear weapons capabilities it possessed at the end of the June war, but with a greater motivation to construct a bomb,” Albright stated. This is the reason it is critical “to finish the job” in Iran, he added.