During the Israeli attack on Iranian military facilities on October 25, a nuclear weapons development facility near Tehran was also destroyed. TASR informs about this based on the report of the American website Axios referring to unnamed Israeli and American officials.
According to them, it is the Tálekán-2 facility located in the area of the Párčín military complex, which is located approximately 30 kilometers southeast of the capital of Iran. It was part of the AMAD scientific project, which the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says began in 1989 and ended in 2003. However, Israel says the project continues and aims to develop a nuclear weapon. Iran denied its existence.
One of the former Israeli officials briefed on the attack told Axios that the attack destroyed sophisticated equipment used to develop the plastic explosives that surround the uranium in a nuclear weapon and are needed to detonate it.
Allegedly, the Iranian facility was part of research for the development of nuclear weapons
US and Israeli intelligence services noted activity at the site earlier this year. It was allegedly part of an effort by the Iranian government to conduct research that could be used to develop nuclear weapons, but could also be presented as research for civilian purposes.
“They were doing scientific research that could be the basis for the production of a nuclear weapon. It was secret. Only a few members of the Iranian government knew about it,” a US official told Axios.
Before the Israeli strike in October, US President Joe Biden asked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities and thus provoke a war with Iran. However, the Tálekán-2 facility was nevertheless chosen as one of the targets, as it was not officially part of Iran’s nuclear program, and if Tehran had informed about its destruction, it would have admitted that it was violating the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.
“The attack was a subtle message that the Israelis have a good understanding of the Iranian system, even if it is about things that were top secret and known to a very small group of people in the Iranian government,” Axios quoted a US official as saying.
Axios reminds that the IAEA Board of Governors will meet next week. He is expected to vote on a resolution criticizing Iran for its lack of cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog. Iran has warned that in such a case it could respond by limiting cooperation with the IAEA.
