Ali Akbar Salehi, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), announced that Iran had begun construction of a new building for centrifuge production in the mountains near the Natanz nuclear complex, Iran's primary uranium enrichment facility. Salehi described the new building as "more modern, wider, and more comprehensive" than Natanz. The development of the new site follows a July 2 explosion at Natanz, which damaged an advanced centrifuge development and assembly plant. An Iranian news agency has linked the explosion to Ershad Karimi, a contractor at Natanz. Karimi owns a company called Mehr that supplies precision measuring equipment.