Iran has hidden sites housing “hundreds if not thousands” of advanced centrifuges capable of producing weapons-grade uranium, an expert on Iran’s nuclear programme said.

The regime also moved much of its highly enriched uranium to a secret location before the US was able to bomb the Islamic republic’s three known nuclear facilities, they added.

It means Tehran could have all the capabilities to build a nuclear bomb, said Sima Shine, an expert on Iran’s nuclear programme who has worked within the Israeli military establishment for more than 30 years.

“I’m sure they have a hidden place somewhere with some hundreds, if not thousands of centrifuge[s] and they have material all there in several places all over Iran,” Ms Shine told The Telegraph.

She added: “They cannot do anything now, tomorrow, but in the future, they have all the capabilities [to build a bomb]”.

The warning comes as Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, reportedly granted the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) full control over defending the country from Israeli strikes and domestic unrest.