Israel's move this time is truly severe! Iran's nuclear program has suffered a fatal blow! On March 28, according to foreign media reports, Israel has just conducted airstrikes on two key nuclear facilities in Iran. These two sites are Iran’s only facilities involved in processing yellowcake and plutonium. One of them is the Ardakan Yellowcake Plant in Yazd Province—the sole Iranian facility producing yellowcake, which converts uranium ore into nuclear fuel precursors.

The other is the Arak Heavy Water Reactor, also Iran’s only heavy water reactor capable of producing weapons-grade plutonium. Clearly, with these two critical nuclear facilities destroyed, this marks the most serious and devastating setback for Iran's nuclear program since the JCPOA. It’s essentially like severing both of Iran’s nuclear weapon development pathways at once. The destruction of the yellowcake plant effectively cuts off the supply of uranium enrichment raw materials. Even if Iran still possesses a large number of centrifuges domestically, without raw material supply, it would be fundamentally impossible to produce multiple nuclear warheads.

Meanwhile, the strike on the heavy water reactor directly severs Iran’s sole path to developing plutonium-based nuclear weapons. In short, Iran can now only rely on its existing stockpile of 440 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60% purity. Once this reserve is exhausted, Iran will lose its ability to produce weapons-grade nuclear materials. To be honest, Israel’s action is truly ruthless—this bombing alone could delay Iran’s nuclear program by several years. Of course, there remains the possibility that Israel may further target Iran’s power infrastructure.

For Iran to rebuild these two core facilities, it would require massive funding, an extended construction period, and must also confront ongoing military pressure from Israel and stringent restrictions imposed by the international community. Of course, Iran had anticipated such an attack on its nuclear facilities, but never expected Israel to succeed. Facing such a heavy blow, Iran certainly won’t accept this quietly—and it’s possible that Iran will retaliate by launching missile attacks against Israeli nuclear facilities, aiming to weaken Israel’s nuclear capabilities.

Original source: toutiao.com/article/1860892303698955/

Disclaimer: This article represents the personal views of the author.