Israel destroyed secret Iranian nuclear research facility in recent strikes, US official says

Among the targets Israel struck in response to an Iranian missile barrage before Rosh Hashanah was the military complex at Parchin, southeast of Tehran.

The Taleghan 2 facility at Parchin had previously been used to test explosives to set off a nuclear device, according to the Institute for Science and International Security, before Iran halted its nuclear weapons programme in 2003.

Iran has denied interest in the production of nuclear weapons.

However, American and US intelligence were concerned to detect research activity at the location last year that could be used for nuclear weapons and the US privately warned Iran against continuing, Axios reported.

A US official told the website that last month’s strike against Taleghan 2 “was a not so subtle message that the Israelis have significant insight into the Iranian system even when it comes to things that were kept top secret and known to a very small group of people in the Iranian government”.