World
Iran rebuilding nuclear program despite Trump talks, opposition figure claims
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
Iran is rebuilding nuclear sites damaged in previous U.S. strikes and “preparing for war,” despite engaging in talks with the Trump administration, according to a prominent Iranian opposition figure.
Alireza Jafarzadeh, deputy director of the Washington office of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), said newly released satellite images also prove the regime has accelerated its efforts to restore its “$2 trillion” uranium enrichment capabilities.
“The regime has clearly stepped up efforts to rebuild its uranium enrichment capabilities,” Jafarzadeh told Fox News Digital. “It is preparing itself for a possible war by trying to preserve its nuclear weapons program and ensure its protection.”
IRAN SAYS US MUST ‘PROVE THEY WANT TO DO A DEAL’ ON NUCLEAR TALKS IN GENEVA
Reconstruction activity appears to be underway at Iran’s Isfahan nuclear complex. (Planet Labs PBC/Handout via Reuters)
“That said, the ongoing rebuilding of Iran’s uranium enrichment capabilities is particularly alarming as the regime is now engaged in nuclear talks with the United States,” he added.
New satellite images released by Earth intelligence monitor Planet Labs show reconstruction activity appears to be underway at the Isfahan complex.
Isfahan is one of three Iranian uranium enrichment plants targeted in the U.S. military operation known as “Midnight Hammer.”
The June 22 operation involved coordinated Air Force and Navy strikes on the Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan facilities.
US POSITIONS AIRCRAFT CARRIERS, STRIKE PLATFORMS ACROSS MIDDLE EAST AS IRAN TALKS SHIFT TO OMAN
A satellite image shows tunnel entrances covered with soil at Isfahan nuclear complex. (Vantor/Handout via Reuters)
Despite the damage, the satellite images show Iran has buried entrances to a tunnel complex at the site, according to Reuters.
Similar steps were reportedly taken at the Natanz facility, which houses two additional enrichment plants.
“These efforts in Isfahan involve rebuilding its centrifuge program and other activities related to uranium enrichment,” Jafarzadeh said.
The renewed movements come as Iran participated in talks with the U.S. in Geneva.
On Thursday, President Donald Trump warned that “bad things” would happen if Iran did not make a deal.
While the talks were aimed at curbing Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief, Jafarzadeh argues that for the regime, talks would be nothing more than a tactical delay.
TRUMP SAYS IRAN ALREADY HAS US TERMS AS MILITARY STRIKE CLOCK TICKS
Iran Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei “agreed to the nuclear talks as it would give the regime crucial time to avoid or limit the consequences of confrontation with the West,” according to Jafarzadeh. ( Office of the Supreme Leader of Iran via Getty Images)
“Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei agreed to the nuclear talks as it would give the regime crucial time to avoid or limit the consequences of confrontation with the West,” he said.
Jafarzadeh also described the regime spending at least “$2 trillion” on nuclear capabilities, which he said “is higher than the entire oil revenue generated since the regime came to power in Iran in 1979.”
“Tehran is trying to salvage whatever has remained of its nuclear weapons program and quickly rebuild it,” he said. “It has heavily invested in the nuclear weapons program as a key tool for the survival of the regime.”
IRANIAN OFFICIAL SAYS NUCLEAR TALKS WILL CONTINUE AFTER US, TEHRAN NEGOTIATIONS HAD ‘A GOOD START’ IN OMAN
Satellite imagery taken on January 30, 2026, shows a new roof over a previously destroyed building at the Natanz nuclear site. (2026 PLANET LABS PBC/Handout via Reuters)
Jafarzadeh is best known for publicly revealing the existence of Iran’s Natanz nuclear site in 2002, which led to inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency and intensified global scrutiny of Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.
“The insistence of the Iranian regime during the nuclear talks on maintaining its uranium enrichment capabilities, while rebuilding its damaged sites, is a clear indication that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has no plans to abandon its nuclear weapons program,” he said.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
The National Council of Resistance of Iran, led by Maryam Rajavi, exposed for the first time the nuclear sites in Natanz, Arak, Fordow and more than 100 other sites and projects, Jafarzadeh said, “despite a massive crackdown by the regime on this movement.”
new video loaded: What Tunnel Entrances Reveal About a Key Iranian Nuclear Site
transcript
transcript
What Tunnel Entrances Reveal About a Key Iranian Nuclear Site
Satellite images show how Iran has tried to bolster its defenses at parts of the Isfahan nuclear facility.
-
What you’re seeing here are buried tunnel entrances at a nuclear facility in Iran. It’s one of the most important sites in the country for U.S. and Israeli forces. U.N. inspectors think that roughly half of Iran’s highly enriched uranium is buried here. And these three entrances are the only known ways to access it. If you think about nuclear sites in Iran, three main sites come to mind. They’re pretty well known: Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan. Natanz and Fordo, They were largely taken out in U.S. strikes last year. So I’ve been focusing on Isfahan. The uranium here is still relatively accessible. It’s actually a pretty large complex. This area here was very important for uranium processing, but it was heavily hit by the U.S. and Israel last June. If you go a little bit further north, that is underground and that requires tunnels to enter. In a terrain view, it gets quite interesting. There are three roads that lead to these tunnel entrances, and these tunnel entrances have become very important, both last year, but also right now. They lead to the underground facility where U.N. inspectors say uranium is stored and a new enrichment site could be located. If this falls into the wrong hands, that would be a problem in the long term. Here’s a great example of how very recent satellite imagery gives us new insights. This is from late January of this year, and what you see here is a line of trucks. And they’re filled with soil, and they’re lining up to go to some of these tunnel entrances. If you look a little bit closer here, you see another one of these trucks that’s just unloading some of the soil and some earthmoving equipment. Iran in preparation for any possible attacks at that point. They try to protect this facility a little bit more. So this is Jan. 29. And if you just look a few days later, we go to Feb. 2. This is the completely buried tunnel entrance, completely covered in soil to protect from any attack. And this is how it still looks in mid-March. The U.S. and Israel have basically two options here: The first one is to heavily bombard the entrances to this underground complex that would block any access, at least in the near future. They haven’t done that yet. So that’s very, very interesting — a little bit surprising. And it might point towards a second option: That would be to go in with ground forces and to extract the uranium. But that would require a really large amount of troops to secure the vast area, bringing in earthmoving equipment to clear the tunnels and a lot of time in hostile territory.
By Christoph Koettl and Alexander Cardia
March 20, 2026
World
Iranian man, 2nd person arrested after allegedly trying to enter UK nuclear missile base: report
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
Two people were arrested after allegedly unsuccessfully attempting to enter HM Naval Base Clyde in Scotland on Thursday, authorities confirmed to Fox News Digital.
One suspect was an Iranian man, while the other was a woman of unknown nationality, The Telegraph reported.
“Around 5pm on Thursday, 19 March, 2026, we were made aware of two people attempting to enter HM Naval Base Clyde,” Police Scotland said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “A 34-year-old man and 31-year-old woman have been arrested in connection and enquiries are ongoing.”
The Telegraph reported that the man was Iranian, while the woman’s nationality was not immediately known. Citing the Times, the Telegraph said the suspects were turned away from the base because they lacked the correct passes and were later arrested nearby for allegedly “acting suspiciously in the vicinity.”
IRAN’S NEW SUPREME LEADER LINKED TO PROPERTIES WITH ‘LINE OF SIGHT’ INTO ISRAELI UK EMBASSY
HMS Artful, an Astute-class nuclear-powered fleet submarine, is shown at His Majesty’s Naval Base Clyde on March 4, 2025, in Faslane, Scotland. (Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)
A Royal Navy spokesperson said in a statement to Fox News Digital, “Police Scotland have arrested two people who unsuccessfully attempted to enter HM Naval Base Clyde on Thursday 19 March. As the matter is subject to an ongoing investigation, we will not comment further.”
HM Naval Base Clyde — commonly known as Faslane — is considered the primary base for the United Kingdom’s missile fleet.
PENCE BACKS TRUMP’S IRAN STRIKES, SAYS PRESIDENT ‘IGNORED’ GOP ISOLATIONISTS
A general view of His Majesty’s Naval Base Clyde on March 4, 2025, in Faslane, Scotland. (Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)
The Royal Navy says the base is home “to the core of the Submarine Service, including the nation’s nuclear deterrent, and the new generation of hunter-killer submarines.”
The U.K. Parliament says the Royal Navy currently operates a fleet of nine submarines, with the entire fleet based at HM Naval Base Clyde.
His Majesty’s Naval Base (HMNB) Clyde, also known as Faslane, hosts the U.K.’s nuclear submarines, which are armed with Trident missiles and serve as the U.K.’s nuclear deterrent. (Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)
“Five of those are conventionally-armed nuclear-powered attack submarines of the Astute class. A further four are ballistic missiles submarines (SSBN) of the Vanguard class that comprise the UK’s submarine-based nuclear deterrent,” it added.
Mojtaba Khamenei has not been seen in public since he replaced his slain father as Iran’s supreme leader.
Published On 20 Mar 2026
Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has said Iran’s enemies were being “defeated” in a written message for the Persian New Year, as the US and Israel continue to pound the country with attacks.
In a statement read on Iranian television on Friday, Khamenei praised the steadfastness of the Iranian people marking Nowruz, which he said ushered in the year of a “resistance economy under national unity and national security”.
list of 3 itemsend of listRecommended Stories
“At the moment, due to the particular unity that has been created between you, our compatriots – despite all the differences in religious, intellectual, cultural and political origins – the enemy has been defeated,” he said.
Khamenei has not been seen in public since he became supreme leader, following the assassination of his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, at the start of the war on February 28.
Iran’s supreme leader said that while the US and Israel believed that after one or two days of attacks, the Iranian people would overthrow the government, but this was a “gross miscalculation”.
The war was launched under “the delusion that if the pinnacle of the regime and certain influential military figures were to attain martyrdom, it would instil fear and despair in our dear people … and through this means, the dream of dominating Iran and subsequently dismembering it would be realised”, he said.
Instead, “a fracture has emerged in the enemy,” he added.
Analysts have observed that the Iranian constitution itself was drafted with the spectre of a power vacuum in mind, a “survival protocol” designed to give the system the capacity to continue even at a moment of maximum shock.
Khamenei also denied that Iran or its allied forces were responsible for attacks against Turkiye and Oman.
Those were “false flag” incidents used by Iran’s enemy to “sow discord among neighbours, and it may occur in other countries as well”, he claimed.
The Turkish Ministry of National Defence last week said NATO air defences intercepted a ballistic missile launched from Iran. Two people were killed in Oman after drones came down in the Sohar province.
The supreme leader also called on Afghanistan and Pakistan to end their fighting and said he stood ready to assist.
“We consider our eastern neighbours to be very close to us”, the supreme leader said. “I appeal to our two brotherly countries, Afghanistan and Pakistan, to establish better relations with each other … and I myself am ready to take the necessary actions.”
The neighbouring countries agreed to a temporary “pause” in hostilities during the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr this week, after weeks of deadly violence.
Video: What Tunnel Entrances Reveal About a Key Iranian Nuclear Site
Where Oil and Gas Sites Have Been Attacked During Iran War
Why is the ‘Bachelorette’ canceled? A guide to the Taylor Frankie Paul controversy
Microsoft is ending the Windows Update nightmare — and letting you pause them indefinitely
Iranian man, 2nd person arrested after allegedly trying to enter UK nuclear missile base: report
Florida High School Football Rankings: Top 25 teams – Oct. 21
How old is Bo Nix? What to know about Oregon quarterback ahead of 2024 NFL Draft
Cleary's 21 help Le Moyne down Central Connecticut State 69-64 in OT
99th annual Pony Swim held in Virginia
Indiana Members Credit Union announced as new anchor tenant at Bottleworks District
Pritzker pushes prosecutions of Trump officials as part of Dem ‘Project 2029’ agenda
Iran’s Khamenei says enemy ‘defeated’ in written Nowruz message
Gold Trump coin moves forward after Treasury invokes rare authority
Meet the longtime biz partner of Ilhan Omar’s husband as questions swirl over her skyrocketing net worth
‘Nobody can blackmail us’: Leaders excoriate Orbán’s veto
-
Detroit, MI2 days agoDrummer Brian Pastoria, longtime Detroit music advocate, dies at 68
-
Oklahoma6 days agoFamily rallies around Oklahoma father after head-on crash
-
Nebraska1 week agoWildfire forces immediate evacuation order for Farnam residents
-
Georgia4 days agoHow ICE plans for a detention warehouse pushed a Georgia town to fight back | CNN Politics
-
Massachusetts1 week agoMassachusetts community colleges to launch apprenticeship degree programs – The Boston Globe
-
Alaska5 days agoPolice looking for man considered ‘armed and dangerous’
-
Colorado1 week ago‘It’s Not a Penalty’: Bednar Rips Officials For MacKinnon Ejection | Colorado Hockey Now
-
Southwest1 week agoTalarico reportedly knew Colbert interview wouldn’t air on TV before he left to film it