Experts say the new construction could be aimed at obscuring damage assessments and recovering sensitive materials, as Iran continues to block international inspectors from visiting nuclear sites hit in last year’s strikes.
Satellite images show fresh construction at two Iranian nuclear sites bombed last year by Israel and the United States, raising concerns that Tehran may be trying to conceal efforts to recover sensitive materials from the damaged facilities.
The images, taken by Planet Labs PBC, show new roofs built over structures at Iran’s Isfahan and Natanz nuclear sites. The construction marks the first significant activity visible by satellite at any of the country’s bombed nuclear facilities since Israel’s 12-day war with Iran in June.
The coverings effectively block satellites from seeing what is happening on the ground, a key concern as Iran has barred inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency, leaving remote monitoring as the primary means of oversight, according to the Associated Press.
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly demanded that Iran negotiate a deal over its nuclear program to avert threatened American military strikes, citing Tehran’s violent crackdown on nationwide protests. The United States has moved the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and several guided-missile destroyers into the Middle East, though it remains unclear whether Trump will ultimately decide to use force.
Experts say the new structures do not appear to signal reconstruction but instead suggest efforts to obscure salvage operations.
“They want to be able to get at any recovered assets they can get to without Israel or the United States seeing what survived,” said Andrea Stricker of the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies. The roofs, she added, likely allow Iran “to assess whether key assets — such as limited stocks of highly enriched uranium — survived the strikes.”
Before the June war, Iran operated three major nuclear sites. Natanz, about 220 kilometers south of Tehran, housed advanced centrifuges enriching uranium up to 60%. Isfahan produced uranium gas used in the enrichment process. A third site, Fordo, is buried deep beneath a mountain.
Israel struck the sites early in the conflict, followed by US attacks using bunker-busting bombs and cruise missiles. The White House later said the strikes significantly degraded Iran’s nuclear programme, though details of the damage remain limited.
At Natanz, Israel destroyed the main above-ground enrichment plant on June 13, while US strikes later targeted underground halls. Satellite images show Iran began building a roof over the destroyed structure in December, completing it by the end of the month. The facility’s electrical systems appear to remain disabled, the Associated Press reported.
Imagery also shows continued excavation near Natanz at a site known as Pickaxe Mountain, where analysts believe Iran may be constructing a new underground nuclear facility.
At Isfahan, Iran completed a similar roof over a damaged structure near the site’s northeast corner in early January. The Israeli military previously said strikes there targeted facilities linked to centrifuge manufacturing, but declined to comment on the new construction.
Additional satellite images show tunnels near Isfahan being filled with dirt, a defensive measure Iran used before the war, while one tunnel appears to have been reopened and reinforced.
“These roofs appear to be part of an operation to recover any sort of remaining assets or rubble without letting us know what they are getting out of there,” said Sarah Burkhard of the Institute for Science and International Security.
Sean O’Connor of the open-source intelligence firm Janes agreed, saying the goal was likely “to obscure activity rather than to, say, repair or rebuild a structure for use.”
Satellite imagery also shows Iran rebuilding sites linked to its ballistic missile programme, including at the Parchin military complex near Tehran. Work has resumed at a site known as “Taleghan 2,” previously identified by analysts as housing equipment for high-explosive testing related to nuclear weapons research.
“This has been reconstituted very rapidly,” said Lewis Smart of Janes. “It’s being expanded to potentially make it more resistant to penetration attacks and bombings.”
Iran insists its nuclear programme is peaceful, though Western governments and the IAEA say Tehran had an organized weapons program until 2003 and has since retained the technical capacity to pursue a bomb.
