Iran's Secret Nuclear Program Revealed at Natanz and Arak

An Iranian opposition group publicly exposes the existence of two secret nuclear facilities — a uranium enrichment plant at Natanz and a heavy-water reactor at Arak — triggering an international crisis.

On August 14, 2002, the National Council of Resistance of Iran, an opposition group in exile, held a press conference in Washington revealing the existence of two previously undisclosed nuclear sites: a massive uranium enrichment facility being built underground near Natanz and a heavy-water production plant near Arak. The revelation shocked the international community and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which had not been informed of these facilities. It established that Iran had been secretly developing nuclear capabilities for nearly two decades. The disclosure triggered a years-long crisis involving the IAEA, the UN Security Council, and ultimately the nuclear negotiations that would culminate in the 2015 JCPOA.