Iran has deployed construction equipment and started excavation activity at its Fordow uranium enrichment facility following recent US airstrikes, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing imagery collected by Maxar Technologies.
Images captured over the weekend by Maxar Technologies reveal a newly constructed access road leading up to the mountain housing the underground Fordow complex. The images also show several construction vehicles, including an excavator and a mobile crane, positioned near two ventilation shafts believed to have been struck by US bunker-buster bombs on June 22.
Citing the Wall Street Journal, the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) assessed that the excavator is likely preparing staging areas for downhole inspections, possibly to lower personnel or equipment into bomb impact points to assess the structural damage.
ISIS president David Albright noted that Maxar’s imagery shows preparations for inspection at two specific impact zones, with one site already having a crane in place. He further explained in a social media post that terrain instability at the second site could require a larger crane to safely conduct assessments.
In a separate update, Maxar confirmed that the new satellite images, taken Sunday, show ongoing activity at and around the bomb-damaged ventilation shafts, with personnel visibly working near the northern shaft located on the ridge above the underground complex.
Earlier this month, the US military launched coordinated strikes on multiple Iranian nuclear sites, including Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan. According to US officials, B-2 bombers dropped more than a dozen Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) bombs, aimed specifically at the ventilation shafts at Fordow.
Albright also noted that Iran has already repaired surface damage to the main entrance road leading to the complex, although there is no evidence yet of attempts to reopen tunnel access points. He added that Iranian teams appear to be conducting engineering damage assessments, possibly backfilling of craters, and likely radiological sampling.
Meanwhile, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi said that the US strikes have not rendered Iran’s nuclear program inoperable. Contrary to US claims of having set Iran’s ambitions back by decades, Grossi warned that Tehran could resume high-level uranium enrichment “within months” if it chose to.
This view echoes early assessments from the Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency, which concluded the strikes may have delayed but not destroyed the core infrastructure of Iran’s nuclear capabilities.
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