New Activity Is Detected at Iran’s Nuclear Sites Amid American Military Buildup

Satellite imaging shows new activity at two nuclear sites in Iran, increasing the prospects of fresh military strikes from a large American task force that has been rapidly assembling around the Islamic Republic. President Trump, who has dispatched an aircraft carrier group and other military assets to the region, warned this week that “time is running out” for Iran to conclude a deal that would ensure it never acquires nuclear weapons.But satellite photos published Saturday by the Associated Press show that roofs have been built over two damaged buildings at the Isfahan and Natanz facilities, both of which were targeted and largely destroyed by American airstrikes last year.The images, provided by Planet Labs PBC, mark the first major activity noticeable by satellite at any of the country’s damaged nuclear sites since a series of attacks by Israel and America in June, the AP said.Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency were kicked out of Iran in July and its cameras were disabled, leaving Western governments with no apparent way of determining what is happening beneath the roofs at Isfahan and Natanz.Mr. Trump this week demanded that Iran abandon its nuclear weapons program and cease its violent crackdown on government protesters. He said he believes Tehran wants to make a deal but warned it has little time to avoid an attack that would be “far worse” than the one in June.Forces at his disposal include a carrier strike group led by the USS Abraham Lincoln, which arrived in the Persian Gulf this week. It is accompanied by three guided-missile destroyers and a cruiser. Three American destroyers were already in the region, including two near the Strait of Hormuz.This “massive armada” is “moving quickly, with great power, enthusiasm, and purpose,” Mr. Trump said Wednesday on his Truth Social account.In addition, about 35 F-15E Strike Eagle fighter-bombers have been sent to Jordan while tanker aircraft have rushed to Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, according to independent sources. Missile defense batteries are also said to be moving into position across the Gulf.The Israel Defense Force intelligence chief, Major General Shlomi Binder, and Mossad director David Barnea flew to Washington this week to share intel with American counterparts on possible Iranian targets, The New York Sun’s Benny Avni reported Thursday. Those likely include sites where the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its volunteer internal enforcers, the Basij, are headquartered.Iranian officials are warning that, if attacked, they will respond as forcefully as possible against American and Israeli targets in the region. “This time, we will treat any attack, limited, unlimited, surgical, kinetic, whatever they call it, as a total war against us, and we will respond in the harshest possible way,” an unidentified senior official told the Reuters news agency.The regime announced Friday it is planning its own live-fire naval exercise in the Strait of Hormuz, close to where part of the American flotilla is stationed.In a statement late Friday, the U.S. Central Command said, “We will not tolerate unsafe IRGC actions including overflight of U.S. military vessels engaged in flight operations, low-altitude or armed overflight of U.S. military assets when intentions are unclear, highspeed boat approaches on a collision course with U.S. military vessels, or weapons trained at U.S. forces.”Raising tensions further, Iranian state media reported Saturday that six people had been killed and more than a dozen injured in two explosions, including one at southern port city of Bandar Abbas in the Persian Gulf. Authorities insisted the blasts were not the result of any military operation.

New Activity Is Detected at Iran’s Nuclear Sites Amid American Military Buildup

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