New uranium enrichment site in Iran

A leading hardline newspaper reported Sunday that Iran had opened a new site for uranium enrichment.

According to The Associated Press, this new underground site would be well protected from possible airstrikes.

Uranium can serve for the production of fossil fuels and fissile warhead material, which scares the international community. Iran is currently under United Nations sanctions because they refuse to stop uranium enrichment. 

The country’s leadership says the reactors will only be used for energy and research.

Around 8,000 centrifuges are operating in Natanz, central Iran.

According to an Iranian daily, Revolutionary Guard deputy commander Ali Ashraf Nouri said that if Iran’s exports were to be blocked, the Strait of Hormuz would be closed.

The Strait of Hormuz is at the mouth of the Persian Gulf and is the place where one sixth of the world’s oil reaches the market.

In response to Tehran’s nuclear program, the United States recently directed new sanctions to Iran’s central bank and its ability to sell petroleum internationally.