New York Times reports that Israeli and American strikes on Isfahan have severely crippled Iran’s ability to produce atomic bombs by destroying crucial metallization facilities. This process, essential for creating the explosive core of a nuclear weapon, is now a major bottleneck for Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.
Joint Israeli and American military operations have reportedly dealt a significant blow to Iran’s efforts to produce atomic bombs, specifically targeting a crucial stage in the weaponization process at a key facility in Isfahan, The New York Times reported.
While Iran’s enriched uranium reserves remain intact, analysts suggest the strikes have severely hampered its ability to transform enriched uranium gas into dense metal – a vital step in creating the explosive core of a nuclear weapon.
The focus of these attacks has been on the metallization process, which involves converting enriched uranium gas into metallic form. Reports indicate that equipment intended for this purpose at the Isfahan complex has been destroyed.
This disruption is now seen by many experts as a major bottleneck in Iran’s path toward a nuclear device, potentially setting back its bomb-making capabilities by years, according to The New York Times.
“It’s unlikely that we would have had to bomb uranium metal production facilities today if the first Trump administration had not pulled out of the Iran deal,” stated Robert Einhorn, a former arms control official, who was quoted in the report.
This sentiment was echoed by Michael S. Lubell, a physics professor at the City College of New York, who told The New York Times, “President Trump ‘created this mess.’ There’s no question that the Iran deal was working. He tore it up, created a mess and is now saying, ‘I’m the savior.’”
Conversely, a White House spokeswoman, Anna Kelly, defended the Trump administration’s actions, stating, “The United States should have never entered into Obama’s terrible Iran deal.”
She added, “President Trump did what past presidents have only talked about. Iran’s nuclear program is obliterated, a historic ceasefire has been brokered, and the entire world is safer.”
Rafi Meron, former deputy head of Israel’s National Security Council, underscored the strategic imperative behind the strikes, noting that Iran’s advancements in preparing uranium for weaponry necessitated a decisive response. “It was decided to go to war in order to fundamentally change this situation,” Meron said.
Experts, including David Albright, president of the Institute for Science and International Security, now believe that the destruction of the metallization facilities has effectively eliminated Tehran’s near-term capacity to produce a bomb’s core. “It’s a bottleneck,” Albright explained. “They have to rebuild it.”
The recent strikes, initially by Israel on June 13 and subsequently by the United States on June 22 with Tomahawk cruise missiles, specifically targeted and destroyed the metallization sites at Isfahan. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed the destruction of a “plant for producing ‘metallic uranium’” and “infrastructure” for nuclear arms production at the complex. The IAEA further corroborated that the strikes hit “the enriched uranium metal processing facility, which was under construction.”
