by Yonah Jeremy Bob
IDF Spokesperson Brig.-Gen. Effie Defrin revealed the strike in a March 3 press conference, though doubts had persisted about how critical the site was for Iran's nuclear program.
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| The IDF destroyed a secret Iranian nuclear weapons development site on March 3, 2026. (Credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT) |
Despite doubts about recent IDF claims of having destroyed a secret nuclear site that was critical for the Islamic regime’s plans to develop a nuclear weapon, The Jerusalem Post has exclusively confirmed with Israeli sources the dangers the site posed.
Last week, IDF Spokesperson Brig.-Gen. Effie Defrin revealed in a press conference that the air force had destroyed a secret Iranian nuclear weapons development site.
Designating the site as Min Zadai, on the northeast outskirts of Tehran, Defrin said it was related to weapon development.
He said that IDF intelligence followed nuclear scientists who tried to travel there stealthily. By following these scientists, he said that the military learned how these activities could help Tehran rehabilitate aspects of its weapons development program for a nuclear bomb.
Most of the global media focuses on uranium enrichment because that is the most pressing issue. But without the development of a vast number of weapon components, enriched uranium cannot be used as a weapon.
In June 2025, Israel’s attacks destroyed dozens of sites relating to weapons development, essentially shutting down that side of the nuclear coin.
Iranian progress toward nuke since Operation Rising Lion
Defrin’s revelation was the IDF’s first public mention of Iran’s latest progress in rehabilitating aspects of its weapons development after June 2025.
Defrin’s claim was brand new and had no prior hints or warnings. This, combined with Israel and America declaring in June 2025 that they had wiped out Iran’s nuclear weapons program, caused many to doubt this latest claim.
Critics have said that this claim was being used to justify the current war despite the previous Israeli and American narrative. These critics maintain that, since June 2025, there has been no real nuclear danger from Iran due to the success of the airstrikes last year.
Even relatively pro-Israel groups like the Institute for Science and International Security published a post raising doubts about Israel’s claim.
According to the think tank, in a post labeled “Alleged Minzadehei Nuclear Weapons Development Compound,” Israel attacked “what it called the Minzadehei nuclear weapons development compound northeast of Tehran on March 3, 2026. Imagery from March 4, 2026, shows notable destruction within a heavily secured area.”
Next, the think tank said that an IDF video initially identified only the general area of the compound.
“We located a highly secure site within the area identified by the IDF, located off the highway [Sohanak Road] and within recreation/park land that includes a nearby equestrian club. The site is surrounded by a high wall with guard towers. It contains two clusters of aboveground buildings, as well as long, winding roads with a series of buildings revetted into the hillside,” said the think tank post.
A caption on an IDF video about the attack states, “The complex is designed to enable the restoration of the required technology and the advancement of capabilities for the development of nuclear weapons.”
The think tank noted that the military did not identify the component.
Next, the think tank said that a second IDF video, in Hebrew, “identified a building partially buried into the hillside just down the road from the targeted hillside, just south of one of the attacked aboveground complexes. The hillside building is connected to the aboveground complex by a walled walkway, as well as by trenching. It is unclear how far this facility extends under the hillside.”
“The building was constructed in 2021. Available imagery, going back to 2005, does not allow a confirmation of a large underground facility or a characterization of the type of below-ground facilities or their interconnection with the attacked buildings or other buildings built into the hillside,” stated the think tank.
Further, the think tank pointed out that “the site outlined by the IDF was not visibly damaged. It is unclear why this site was not part of what was hit.”
Next, the think tank referred to a post by Israeli Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter and raised doubts about it.
“Making sense of these comments is difficult. But they imply that post-June war Iran decided to reconstitute or gather its nuclear weapons development work in this facility that appears to combine aboveground and underground aspects.”
“Ambassador Leiter’s comment raises a nuclear warhead missile delivery issue. Was this site working on developing a nuclear warhead for a reentry vehicle of a ballistic missile? Before the June war, Israeli officials had stated that they had evidence that the nuclear weaponization team was going to meet with ballistic missile groups, indicating that Iran was moving forward on working on a nuclear warhead for a ballistic missile,” stated the think tank.
The think tank concluded, “The IDF statements do not make clear what nuclear weapons component it is singling out that was being developed/produced at this partially underground facility.”
Despite all of these questions, the Post understands from Israeli sources that the facility was a critical aspect of Iranian efforts to reestablish their nuclear weapons program, which is crucial for any future effort to make a bomb.
Yonah Jeremy Bob
Source: https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/defense-news/article-889277
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