The Washington, DC-based Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) said last week that after examining images of the Esfahan site, where uranium ore is processed to prepared the uranium for enrichment, it found no evidence of physical damage, contrary to reports from The Times of London of “billowing smoke and destruction” at the plant.
The Times cited “Israeli intelligence officials” who said the blast was “no accident.”
The tales of a major explosion—perhaps a missile attack by the United States or Israel—began after a number of Esfahanis reported hearing a loud boom November 28. But police said they found no signs of any explosion anywhere in the city. The boom may just have been a truck backfiring.
The satellite images examined by ISIS show no damage at the uranium plant, which is beyond the city limits, but do show that an installation about 400 meters beyond the perimeter fence that surrounds the uranium plant has been leveled.
ISIS said five buildings visible in an August 27 satellite photo were all gone in a December 5 photo. The buildings are widely spaced and there are no indications on the ground of an explosion such as a crater. Heavy equipment can be seen and there are indications of bulldozing work.
ISIS said it learned the site was originally a salt mine. Satellite photos from 1996 show the buildings that are now gone were there before the uranium facility was built.
There has been much speculation about secret Western attacks on Iran based on the November 28 boom heard in Esfahan, a November 12 explosion at a Pasdar base west of Tehran, and a December 10 blast at a steel mill in Yazd. But the government, which has never been slow to blame the West for anything and everything (including sandstorms), says the West had nothing to do with these.
The death toll at the Yazd steel mill has now risen to 16 as more and more of those injured in the explosion have succumbed. The government has still not given a cause for the explosion. The Fars news agency attributed it to a gas leak, although it cited no sources for that information. The local member of the Majlis said the blast was caused by unexploded munitions that were included in scrap metal brought to the steel plant.