Satellite images show renewed vehicle and earth-moving activity at the Minzadehei compound northeast of Tehran, which Israel struck in March 2026. The images, reviewed by the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), show work continuing at a site Israeli officials have described as linked to nuclear weapons development. They don’t establish what activity is taking place there now.
What the images show
The institute’s report, published Tuesday, includes high-resolution images Vantor Technologies took in September and October. At an area attacked in March, earth-moving work appears on a surface that looked like a courtyard. Multiple craters were visible there after the strike. Elsewhere inside the compound, the images show significant vehicle activity between early September and early October.
Cars sat outside the security perimeter. Passenger vehicles and trucks appeared within it. The institute described the images as showing a return to regular vehicle activity and continuing earth-moving work. It said the activity could indicate “an effort by Iran to reestablish a nuclear weapons development capability and to reconstitute what was lost in the attack on the compound.”
That’s an interpretation of the imagery, not evidence in the article that nuclear weapons work has resumed. The reporting doesn’t establish that uranium enrichment is taking place at Minzadehei.
Israel’s account of the strike
The Jerusalem Post reported that satellite images taken on Thursday showed significant renewed activity and extensive cleanup after Israeli strikes in March destroyed several buildings and likely underground structures. The IDF identified the site as Minzadehei, on Tehran’s northeastern outskirts, and said it had tracked Iranian nuclear scientists traveling there before the attack.
In March, IDF Chief Spokesman Brig.-Gen. Effie Defrin said the site was linked to Iran’s nuclear weapons development efforts. The IDF described the compound as designed to restore technology and advance capabilities needed to develop nuclear weapons, but didn’t identify the specific component being developed there.
The facility included buildings above ground and structures built into the surrounding hillside. The Institute for Science and International Security described it as a highly secured compound, with buildings, roads and structures partly embedded in the hillside. The Jerusalem Post reported that the IDF destroyed the site on March 3, 2026. The images show renewed activity seven months after the strike.
Other reported construction
The Minzadehei imagery comes amid other reports of activity connected to Iran’s nuclear programme. In September, Israeli intelligence presented information indicating new construction at Pickaxe Mountain, a mountainous site south of Tehran identified as a possible location for restoring parts of the programme. The reporting didn’t establish that uranium enrichment was taking place there.
A satellite-view caption identified vehicles at an entrance to Pickaxe Mountain tunnels near Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility on June 21. Vantor received credit for the image, which Reuters provided. The available reporting describes vehicle and construction activity at the sites; it doesn’t establish what capabilities, if any, Iran has restored.