Satellite images show Iran rebuilding bombed nuclear sites

Exclusive satellite imagery obtained and analyzed by CNN shows signs that Iran may be attempting to rebuild nuclear facilities struck by the United States and Israel, even as a top United Nations official warned the Security Council on Thursday of a "lost continuity of knowledge" regarding Tehran's atomic program.cnn+2

Satellite Evidence of Reconstruction

The CNN report, published Thursday, reveals renewed activity at Iranian nuclear sites previously targeted during U.S. and Israeli military operations that began in late February 2026. Satellite photos show repair and reconstruction efforts at the Taleghan-2 facility at the Parchin military base, which some experts believe was linked to past weaponization research, as well as continued work at the deeply buried Pickaxe Mountain complex near Natanz.fdd+3

The findings build on earlier reporting. The Institute for Science and International Security reported on July 2 that late-June imagery of Pickaxe Mountain showed "vehicle activity … on the roads leading to the open set of Western tunnel portals, indicating that construction inside the tunnel complex, as well as hardening of the tunnel entrance, are ongoing". Western intelligence agencies suspect Tehran may be building an undeclared uranium enrichment plant at the site, which is buried deeper than the Fordow facility struck in June 2025. The Foundation for Defense of Democracies said this week the activity violates the U.S.-Iran Memorandum of Understanding signed on June 17, under which Tehran committed to "maintain the current status quo of its nuclear program".foxnews+2

UN Alarm Over Monitoring Gaps

In a Security Council briefing on Thursday, Under-Secretary-General Rosemary DiCarlo said the International Atomic Energy Agency had lost continuity of knowledge across all of Iran's declared nuclear facilities, with the exception of the Bushehr power plant. The IAEA has been largely unable to verify Iran's compliance with its safeguards obligations since the strikes began, according to a June 4 agency report — its first since the conflict started.usatoday+4

Iran has barred inspectors from legally required access to damaged facilities entirely since the June 2025 strikes, and has not implemented the Additional Protocol — which requires enhanced monitoring — since 2021. The U.S. Mission to the United Nations said Thursday that the loss of continuity now "extends to every declared nuclear facility in Iran with the exception of Bushehr".reuters+2

Diplomatic Stakes

The revelations come amid fragile diplomatic efforts to revive U.S.-Iran negotiations. President Trump has cited Iran's resumed nuclear activity, ostensibly at Pickaxe Mountain, as one justification for new military strikes conducted between February and April 2026. A four-week UN conference to review the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty ended in May without agreement, with experts pointing to U.S.-Iran tensions as the primary obstacle.washingtonpost+2

DiCarlo urged the Security Council to facilitate a "time-bound negotiating process to address nuclear concerns and regional security issues in parallel". But the council's permanent members remain divided over whether UN sanctions on Iran's nuclear program are still in force, leaving what one non-permanent member called a dangerous "gap in oversight".press.un