Israel Matzav

Surprise: Iran blast in city reputed to have 'covert nuclear facilities'

The deaths occurred in an explosion and subsequent fire at a steel factory in the central Iranian province of Yadz, Iran's IRIB news agency quoted Yazd Governor Azizollah Seifi as saying on Monday. He said that some of the those killed in the blast were foreign nationals.

The cause of the explosion was not immediately clear but reports over the years have indicated the existence of covert nuclear facilities in the city of Yazd and it's surrounding areas.

While there was no evidence available to support this possibility, Iran has used seemingly innocent civilian factories before to hide its illicit nuclear activity.

Some reports have claimed that the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps had built underground nuclear facilities in the Yazd region. The Iranians are known to have a mine there used to extract raw uranium and that a nearby facility is where the uranium is turned into yellowcake a key component in the nuclear fuel cycle.

It is also possible that the steel facility was strictly a steel facility without a military or nuclear application. It is possible though that the factory manufactured steel parts for missiles or even centrifuges, used to enrich uranium. In either case, sabotaging such a facility could contribute to efforts aimed at delaying Iran's nuclear and missile programs.

Labels: explosions, Iranian nuclear threat, sabotage

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 6:20 PM