IDF Strikes Arak Heavy Water Reactor and Yazd Yellowcake Plant

US and Israeli airstrikes targeted the Arak heavy water research reactor complex and a yellowcake uranium production plant in Yazd province, per Iranian state media and corroborated by Western sources. The Arak reactor, which had been subject to the 2015 JCPOA modification requirements, was struck in an effort to permanently eliminate Iran's ability to produce plutonium. The Yazd yellowcake facility, which processes uranium ore into yellowcake for enrichment feedstock, was simultaneously struck. These strikes represent the deepest attack yet on Iran's nuclear fuel cycle infrastructure beyond the well-documented strikes on Natanz and Fordow. Iran's nuclear program is now assessed as having been set back by decades. Two of Iran's largest steel manufacturing facilities were also struck in the same wave, targeting economic infrastructure funding the IRGC.