Five thousand centrifuges rendered useless in blast at Natanz in Iran, clai

Washington: Iran is claiming that there were no major losses in the blast at the Natanz nuclear project. But a US think tank has claimed that nearly 5,000 centrifuges at the Natanz nuclear project were rendered useless in the explosion. The US think tank said that the blast had set the Iranian nuclear program back by at least two months. The think tank has warned that the Uranium enrichment by Iran is still at dangerous levels.

There was a blast in the Natanz nuclear project on Sunday, 11th April. The Iranian media initially said that there was an electrical failure, causing a blackout. But in the next 24 hours, the Iranian officials accused that this was nuclear terrorism and held Israel responsible. Videos and photographs of Behrouz Kamalvandi being injured in the blast had also been published.

Even after this, Iran claimed that there were no major losses at the Natanz nuclear project. Iran convinced everyone that the work of Uranium enrichment and new centrifuge installations were going on normally, with a video shot at the project. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani had announced that the Uranium enrichment had been taken to 60%, and 7,000 new centrifuges had been installed. But the US think tank claimed that this announcement was only to build pressure on the United States during the Vienna dialogue.

The report prepared by the US-based think tank, Jewish Institute for the National Security of America (JINSA), says that the Natanz nuclear project suffered major losses in the blast. Iran has made two underground facilities in the Natanz premises. Work was being carried out in Hall A of these on thousands of IR-1 centrifuges. There is a smaller number of advanced centrifuges of type IR-2M, IR-4, IR-5 and IR-6 in HALL B.

The explosion, two weeks ago, was in the HALL A, which is the more extensive facility, and a minimum of 50% of the centrifuges were destroyed in the blast. Jonathan Ruhe, Director of Foreign policy at the US think tank, said that the numbers could exceed 5,000. Blaise Misztal has noted in the report that this has set the Iranian nuclear program back by nearly two months.

But the super-advanced centrifuges IR-8 and IR-9 can compensate the losses caused due to the loss of IR-1 centrifuges, but this will also take time. The analysts at the think tank are warning that the Iranian nuclear project is at a very dangerous stage.