Satellite Imagery Shows 'Significant Renewed Activity' at Iran's Minzadayi Nuclear Weapons Site Bombed by Israel, Watchdog Warns
Iran may be rebuilding nuclear weapons development capabilities at a secretive compound northeast of Tehran that Israel bombed earlier this year, according to an analysis of satellite imagery by the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS). The institute's October 6 report says high-resolution imagery from VANTOR Technologies taken in September and October 2026 shows "significant renewed activity" — heavy vehicle traffic, continuing earthmoving, repaired terrain and even new construction — at the Minzadayi compound.
Minzadayi was publicly revealed by Israel during the 2026 war and struck by the Israeli Air Force on March 3, an attack that destroyed several buildings and likely underground structures. Israeli military intelligence had said a group of Iranian nuclear scientists operated there covertly to develop a key component of a nuclear weapons system. The new imagery shows the aftermath of a large cleanup: rubble cleared, hillside damage repaired, and routine vehicle movement resumed across the compound, with passenger cars parked outside the fortified perimeter and trucks inside. Particularly notable are continuing earthworks around a courtyard-like surface where bomb craters were visible after the March strike — analysis suggests the ordinary-looking surface may sit above a partially underground structure.
"Given what is known about this compound, this activity may be indicative of an effort by Iran to reestablish a nuclear weapons development capability and to reconstitute what was lost in the attack," ISIS said. The institute's reports are not government findings, but the organization has a long record of nuclear-proliferation analysis, and its satellite-imagery work is widely cited by media and arms-control analysts.
The report lands as nuclear anxieties around Iran remain high. The war earlier this year began with joint U.S.-Israeli strikes in late February and Israel says its March attack was aimed at an active warhead research site. In a separate September 17 report, ISIS found Iran rapidly reconstructing the Taleghan 2 facility at the Parchin military complex — erecting tarps over destroyed buried structures to hide rebuilding from satellites, with dump trucks, bulldozers and concrete mixers working on site. Iran has not publicly commented on the Minzadayi findings. Whether the renewed activity is cleanup and repair or the start of restored weapons work is, as the institute itself notes, not yet certain — but the imagery shows the site is active again.
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：德黑兰北部城区与厄尔布尔士山脉实景（资料图）。摄影：Amir Pashaei，CC BY-SA 4.0，来源：Wikimedia Commons
