This archive report was first published on 3 July 2020.
On July 3, 2020, a mysterious explosion and fire damaged Iran's nuclear enrichment facility, a key choke point in the country's nuclear ambitions.
According to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the advanced centrifuges at the facility posed a threat, and Iran's efforts to speed up its nuclear work were part of an effort to pressure the United States to suspend sanctions and convince Europe to compensate it for lost revenues.
Iran has insisted that its operations are entirely for civilian purposes, but American intelligence assessments and stolen documents have shown evidence of planning work on nuclear weapons.
David Albright, president of the Institute for Science and International Security, suggested that the disaster was most likely an act of sabotage, citing the presence of highly combustible materials as unlikely.
The facility's existence was no secret, with the Iranians promoting its opening in June 2018 and releasing images of the assembly of centrifuges, which enrich uranium's rare component, uranium 235.
