Iranian expert confirms blast in Fordow uranium enrichment facility.

Iranian expert confirms but US government denies Fordow was the scene of an explosion

Dr Ali Reza Nourizadeh a senior researcher and director of the Centre for Arab & Iranian Studies in London confirmed during a telephone interview with Missing Peace that an explosion has occurred in the  underground uranium enrichment facility in Fordow Iran.

Nourizadeh, who is a commentator for Deutsche Welle and the Voice of America and has an extensive network of contacts in Iran, told us that the explosion has caused relative little damage to the uranium enrichment facility itself but that the blast has blocked the entrance to Fordow.  He confirmed that more than 200 personnel are trapped in the plant and that there is a unknown number of casualties.

He said that since the blast the city of Qom, where Fordow is located, has been encircled by forces of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.  He also reported that today the regime arrested between eight and twelve Iranian journalists who where accused of collaborating with  foreign media. Nourizadeh said that local journalists have been responsible for leaking information about the incident in Fordow. Their computers and other equipment has been confiscated.

Nourizadeh dismissed reports about an imminent Iranian retaliation against Israel via Hezbollah. He said that Iran will not retaliate at this point of time, but it could be that Hezbollah will heat up the border with Israel for reasons more related to the Syrian civil war.

Meanwhile Israeli TV channel 10 reported that the US government has officially denied that an explosion took place Fordow.