AP Reveals Iran's Building at Underground Fordo Nuclear Site

Iran has begun building a site inside its underground nuclear facility, in Fordo, amid tensions with the United States over its nuclear program, according to satellite images obtained by the Associated Press on Friday.

Iran has not publicly recognized any new buildings at the Fordo facility, which was discovered by Western countries in 2009 in a previous round, before world powers concluded the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran.

While the purpose of the construction remains unclear, any work at Fordo is likely to spark new concern in the final days of the Trump administration before the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden.

Indeed, Tehran is building its nuclear facility in Natanz after a mysterious explosion in July there, which Tehran described as a sabotage attack.

"Any changes to this site will be carefully monitored as a sign of the direction of the Iranian nuclear program," said Geoffrey Lewis, an expert at the James Martin Center for Non-Proliferation Studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, who studies Iran.

Iran's mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The International Atomic Energy Agency, whose inspectors are in Iran as part of the nuclear deal, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Satellite images obtained by the Associated Press from Maxar Technologies show that construction is taking place in the northwestern corner of the site, near the city of Qom, about 90 kilometers southwest of Tehran.

A satellite image on December 11 shows what appears to be the excavated foundation of a building with dozens of columns, and these columns can be used in construction to support buildings in earthquake areas.

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