Iran builds new nuclear site to replace sabotaged Natanz facility

Iran’s nuclear program chief Ali Akbar Salehi has announced that construction has begun “in the mountains near Natanz” on a  “more modern, larger and more comprehensive hall” to replace the advanced centrifuge facility destroyed in a fire resulting from sabotage. The significant damage it caused was able to slow the development of advanced uranium enrichment centrifuges, he said. The Natanz facility, much of which is sunk underground, is the centerpiece of Iran’s nuclear program. It was one of a string of nuclear and other sites damaged in a series of mysterious blasts earlier this year.