Was Isfahan's nuclear facility destroyed in the Iran war?: The surface facilities at Isfahan's Nuclear Technology Centre were destroyed in June 2025 during the Twelve-Day War (Operation Rising Lion and Midnight Hammer), not in the February 2026 conflict. The underground vault holding roughly 200 kg of 60%-enriched uranium was sealed but not destroyed.Source: IAEA / ISIS five-month assessment
Is the 60% enriched uranium at Isfahan still there?: Yes. As of March 2026, IAEA Director General Grossi assessed approximately 200 kg of 60%-enriched uranium remains in Isfahan's underground storage vault. US strategy in June 2025 was access-denial (collapsing tunnel entrances) rather than destruction of the buried material.Source: IAEA / Arms Control Association
What is the Isfahan Nuclear Technology Centre?: The Isfahan Nuclear Technology Centre (UCF) converts uranium ore into uranium hexafluoride gas for use in centrifuge enrichment. Its surface buildings were destroyed in June 2025; underground storage remains intact but inaccessible to IAEA inspectors.Source: IAEA
How far is Isfahan from Tehran?: Isfahan is approximately 340 km south of Tehran. It is Iran's third-largest city and a major industrial and defence-manufacturing hub, as well as a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Is Isfahan the same as Natanz?: No. Natanz is a separate facility roughly 150 km north of Isfahan, known for uranium enrichment centrifuges. Isfahan's Nuclear Technology Centre performs uranium conversion. Both sites had their surface facilities destroyed in June 2025; Fordow near Qom was struck separately by US bunker-busters in the same operation.Source: IAEA

Background

Isfahan (or Esfahan) is Iran's third-largest city (population 2.2 million) and the site of the Isfahan Nuclear Technology Centre (UCF), which converts uranium into hexafluoride gas for enrichment. The city's surface nuclear facilities were largely destroyed in June 2025 during the Twelve-Day War: 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 and severely damaged the main Uranium Conversion Facility. The IAEA assessed no off-site radiation.

Critically, the underground storage vault holding approximately 200 kg of 60%-enriched uranium (enough material for around five warheads if further enriched) was NOT destroyed. US strategy was access-denial: collapsing the tunnel portals, not destroying the deeply buried stockpile. By December 2025 Iran had begun clearing and hardening tunnel entrances; satellite imagery detected "Cruise Missile Chicane Barriers" installed at portals. IAEA Director General Grossi assessed in March 2026 that the material remains underground and Iran retains a narrow access route. The 2026 conflict (Operation Roaring Lion / Epic Fury) did not materially change Isfahan's nuclear status; a March 2026 strike on depots was unrelated to the pre-existing nuclear damage.

Beyond its nuclear role, Isfahan is a UNESCO World Heritage site: Naqsh-e Jahan Square ranks among the great public spaces of the Islamic world. A strike on 14 March 2026 on a civilian refrigerator factory killed 15 workers, crystallising the conflict's core dilemma: the same campaign targeting military infrastructure also devastates civilian industry in a city of cultural significance. Isfahan has also become a site in Iran's wartime political-execution register: 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 from the January 2026 demonstrations to be executed during wartime, and one of 22 political executions in the six weeks from 19 March .

Source Material

ISIS Nuclear Iran — Institute for Science and International Security Reuters — Middle East coverage IAEA — Iran Nuclear Programme: Focus Page Isfahan Nuclear Technology Centre — Wikipedia Isfahan — Wikipedia