WANA (Nov 14) – Following the recent attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities, Tehran has emphasized a renewed narrative: even if infrastructure is damaged, knowledge cannot be destroyed. Iranian officials argue that what keeps the nuclear program intact is not buildings and equipment, but three foundational components—indigenous expertise, a vast human-resource network, and the deep integration of nuclear technology with other scientific and economic sectors of the country.

 

In early October, Iran’s Supreme Leader reminded audiences that the country now belongs to a small group of nations capable of enriching uranium—an achievement he described as the product of decades of work by Iranian researchers, and a form of knowledge that “neither attacks nor threats” can erase. His remarks came amid U.S. and Israeli strikes on parts of Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, as Tehran sought to present a more accurate picture of the program’s true nature.

 

In practice, the structure of Iran’s nuclear program reinforces this narrative. A network of major universities—from Sharif University of Technology and the University of Tehran to Amirkabir, Shahid Beheshti, Shiraz, Ferdowsi Mashhad, and Isfahan University of Technology—produces hundreds of specialists each year in fields related to nuclear technology. Experts describe this human capital as the program’s “real infrastructure.”

A billboard with a picture of nuclear scientists killed in Israeli strikes and Iranian centrifuges is displayed on a street in Tehran, Iran August 29, 2025. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency)

Alongside this human resource base, Iran’s indigenous technology chain forms the second pillar of the program’s durability. In recent years, Tehran has achieved significant self-sufficiency in areas such as centrifuge production, irradiation systems, diagnostic equipment, and radiopharmaceuticals—developments that minimize foreign dependency and allow rapid recovery of capacity in the event of an attack or sabotage.

 

But the most important element in this equation is the penetration of nuclear technology into various sectors of Iran’s economy and society—from more than 250 nuclear medicine centers and the production of dozens of radiopharmaceuticals to extensive irradiation applications in agriculture and nuclear-based technologies in the oil and gas industries. This multidimensional integration means the nuclear sector is not an isolated island but part of a broader scientific and economic ecosystem—an ecosystem whose disruption would spill over into many other fields.

 

Ultimately, from Tehran’s perspective, facilities can be targeted, but knowledge cannot. These three components—indigenous expertise, a broad human-resource base, and structural integration with the national economy—have turned Iran’s nuclear program into an arena that, in the logic of Iranian officials, cannot be eliminated even under worst-case scenarios. External pressure, they argue, has only pushed the program toward deeper self-reliance.