Start your day with intelligence. Get The OODA Daily Pulse.
Satellite pictures from Maxar Technologies, dated June 19, confirm that Israel’s recent airstrike caused substantial structural damage to Iran’s heavy water reactor facility at Arak, also known as Khondab, roughly 250 kilometres southwest of Tehran. The high-resolution images reveal the collapse of the upper section of the reactor dome alongside visible destruction to adjacent infrastructure, including distillation towers. While Iranian authorities acknowledged that “projectiles” had struck the compound, they did not initially disclose the extent of the destruction. The satellite images provide the most detailed visual confirmation of the Israeli strike’s impact. Though not operational at the time of the strike, the Arak facility has remained under close observation by nuclear experts due to its technical capacity to produce plutonium, a material that, like highly enriched uranium, can be used to construct a nuclear weapon. Iran has long maintained that its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes.