Iran uranium enrichment site opens for first time in 2 years, images show
For the first time since the Iran nuclear agreement was signed, the entrance gate to Iran’s Fordow uranium enrichment facility was opened and activity at the compound commenced, according to satellite images taken last Sunday and published on Thursday.
In the photos, provided by ImageSat International, new structures that were built recently in the nuclear compound are visible, as well as buses and other vehicles parked outside the complex.
The Fordow compound was part of Iran’s nuclear program, discovered in satellite images in 2009. In January 2012, the UN nuclear watchdog IAEA announced that the uranium at the facility had been enriched to 20%.
The facility itself was built
The editorial was an unusual move for a paper whose editorial board has, in the past, harshly criticized Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Abbas, the NY Times added, “shed all credibility as a trustworthy partner” for future peace talks. “Palestinians need a leader with energy, integrity and vision, one who might have a better chance of achieving Palestinian independence and enabling both peoples to live in peace.”
The Palestinians tried unsuccessfully on Thursday to refocus the debate on the Israeli “occupation,” as condemnation of Abbas’s speech in Ramallah continued to roll in.
“Our problem is not with Judaism, but with the systematic denial of our rights committed by Israel,” said Saab Erekat, secretary general of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization. His words were reported by the Palestinian news agency WAFA.
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas condemned the speech for the second day in a row, in a meeting in Ethiopia with President Reuven Rivlin on Thursday.
Maas later tweeted, “I stressed once again that Germany firmly opposes any attempt to downplay the Holocaust.”
France stated that it “shares the emotions roused by these remarks [of] President Abbas,” its Foreign Ministry said. “We deplore them and consider them false, unfortunate and inappropriate. France reiterates its condemnation, in the strongest possible terms, of antisemitism in all its forms, and its determination to relentlessly combat this scourge.”
The Dutch Foreign Ministry said Abbas’s speech was “unacceptable.” •