Inst for Science

March 04, 2026

NEW: 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. 

 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 above-ground buildings as well as long, winding roads with a series of buildings reverted into the hillside.

 The IDF stated that it attacked a secret nuclear compound, or “nuclear headquarters," partially located underground, where a “group of nuclear scientists operated covertly to develop a key component in the nuclear weapons system.” 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 IDF did not identify the component.

 A March 4th Airbus image shows significant destruction of several above ground buildings within the site and a crater on the nearby hillside, suggesting a miss or a target extending underneath the hillside. See Figures 1 - 4.  

 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 above-ground complexes. The hillside building is connected to the above ground 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.

 The site outlined by the IDF was not visibly damaged (Figure 5). It is unclear why this site was not part of what was hit.   

 Israeli Ambassador Michael Leiter in a short video on X characterized the underground facility as a “nuclear compound” in Iran, where Iran “intended to pair nuclear enriched uranium with a missile delivery system.” He added that the underground facility would have “reached the point very soon where this impenetrable site would not have been able to be destroyed.”

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 above ground 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.

 Nonetheless, the IDF statements do not make clear what nuclear weapons component it is signaling out that was being developed/produced at this partially underground facility.

Read the report here.

You can also follow our experts on X: David Albright (@DAVIDALBRIGHT1); Sarah Burkhard (@SarahBurkhard); and Spencer Faragasso (@SFnuclear)