Isfahan

Isfahan (or Esfahan) is Iran's third-largest city (population 2.2 million) and the location of the Isfahan Nuclear Technology Centre (UCF), which converts uranium ore into hexafluoride gas for enrichment. Surface nuclear facilities were largely destroyed in June 2025: Israeli strikes on 14 and 20-21 June 2025 (Operation Rising Lion) damaged the enriched uranium metal conversion plant, the fuel rod plant, and associated laboratories. US Tomahawk Cruise Missiles on 22 June 2025 (Operation Midnight Hammer) collapsed all four tunnel entrances to the underground complex. The underground storage vault holding approximately 200 kg of 60%-enriched uranium was not destroyed; IAEA Director General Grossi assessed the stockpile as likely remaining at Isfahan on satellite imagery alone, with no inspector access since February 2026. On 23 June 2026, Trump claimed Iran had agreed to highest-level IAEA inspections; Iran's foreign ministry denied any such arrangement existed within hours, and Isfahan's bombed sites remain closed.

Beyond its nuclear role, Isfahan is a city of deep historical and cultural significance. Naqsh-e Jahan Square is a UNESCO World Heritage site and one of the great public spaces of the Islamic world. The province extends across a broad swathe of central Iran, some 340 km south of Tehran, encompassing heavy industry including Mobarakeh Steel. A 14 March 2026 strike on a civilian refrigerator factory killed 15 workers, illustrating how the campaign targeting military infrastructure also struck civilian industry in a city of cultural and symbolic importance.

Isfahani society has become an acute locus of Iran's wartime political repression. In January 2026 residents joined nationwide anti-war protests; multiple demonstrators were subsequently charged with moharebeh (waging war against God). On 30 April 2026, Sasan Azadvar, a 21-year-old karate champion from Isfahan, was executed at the city's Dastgerd Prison, the tenth protester executed during wartime. On 25 May 2026, Abbas Akbari Feyzabadi was executed in Isfahan province on moharebeh charges for his role in the January uprising, becoming the fifteenth person executed for January-uprising activity; his sentence was carried out before family notification. Amnesty International placed Iran's total 2026 executions above 200 by mid-May.