Two of Iran’s centrifuge production sites were hit, the International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed on X/Twitter on Wednesday.
The IAEA said that it had “information that two centrifuge production facilities in Iran, the TESA Karaj workshop and the Tehran [Nuclear] Research Center, were hit.”
“Both sites were previously under IAEA monitoring and verification as part of the JCPOA,” it continued, referring to the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action nuclear deal.
According to the IAEA, “At the Tehran site, one building was hit where advanced centrifuge rotors were manufactured and tested. At Karaj, two buildings were destroyed where different centrifuge components were manufactured.”
Previously, the IDF had said that it had struck dozens of Iranian nuclear sites, including additional uranium enrichment complexes on the night between Tuesday and Wednesday. This is not the first time Israel has attacked the Karaj nuclear facility.
Destroying Iran's nuclear site
In June 2021, Iran accused the Mossad of destroying it by using a drone that was launched from within Iran, from about 10 miles away.
Although the Islamic Republic never fully disclosed what was damaged, the IAEA eventually confirmed that it was a site that it had been monitoring until it was destroyed.
Iran blocked the IAEA from visiting the place for over six months after it was struck.
When Iran blocked access to information about its specific losses, The Jerusalem Post reported on a 2017 Institute for Science and International Security report by founder and director David Albright and former agency official Olli Heinonen regarding this matter.
Drawing attention to the report in 2021, Albright told the Post to review Figure 3 of the report.
An explanatory note for Figure 3 said that in 2011, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran revealed the location of one of Iran’s centrifuge manufacturing sites, near the city of Karaj, and referred to it as the TABA site.
The note went on to say that the components were reportedly “made in the three workshops marked in the image on the right.”
It was at this centrifuge manufacturing site that the incident occurred, regardless of how Iran later attempted to downplay the significance of the site or the attack.
Striking such a primary centrifuge manufacturing site in 2021 and again now could severely set Iran’s program for enriching uranium back.
Later in the institute’s report, it warned that Iran “may have declared only those [sites] dedicated to the current manufacturing of centrifuges.”
“Iran has declared the initiation of centrifuge manufacturing activities at the TABA centrifuge production site near Karaj. The operational status and output of this facility are not reported in the IAEA reports on Iran,” the Institute for Science and International Security report said.
“Such flow forming and filament winding machines are used in military industries that are present in Iran, and Iran has acquired many of them.
“Thus, a key question is whether Iran is secretly making centrifuge rotor tubes and bellows at unknown locations in violation of the JCPOA, and if this is taking place, what is the probability that this goes without detection?” said the report.
Some of what might have been at the site that was hit may have been declared to the IAEA, while some may not have been.