Satellite images show Iran repairing and fortifying military and nuclear sites amid US tensions

Satellite images show that Iran has recently built a concrete shield over a new facility at a sensitive military site and covered it in soil, experts say, advancing work amid tensions with the US at a location reportedly bombed by Israel in 2024.

Images also show that Iran has buried tunnel entrances at a nuclear site bombed by the US during Israel’s 12-day war with Iran last year, fortified tunnel entrances near another, and repaired missile bases struck in the conflict.

They offer a glimpse of Iranian activities at some of the sites at the center of tensions with Israel and the US, as Washington seeks to negotiate a deal with Tehran on its nuclear program while threatening military action if talks fail.

Some 30 kilometers (20 miles) southeast of Tehran, the Parchin complex is one of Iran’s most sensitive military sites. Western intelligence has suggested Tehran carried out tests relevant to nuclear bomb detonations there more than two decades ago. Iran has denied seeking atomic weapons. Israel reportedly struck Parchin in October 2024. Satellite imagery taken before and after that attack shows extensive damage to a rectangular building at Parchin, and now apparent reconstruction.

The Isfahan complex is one of three Iranian uranium-enrichment plants bombed by the United States in June. In addition to facilities that are part of the nuclear fuel cycle, Isfahan includes an underground area where diplomats say much of Iran’s enriched uranium has been stored. Satellite images taken in late January showed new efforts to bury two tunnel entrances at the complex, the Institute for Science and International Security reported. In a February 9 update, it said a third entrance had also been backfilled with soil, meaning all entrances to the tunnel complex were now “completely buried.”