Fears Over Iran’s Missing 400kg Of Uranium. Enough To Make 10 Nukes, Says US
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Fears Over Iran’s Missing 400kg Of Uranium. Enough To Make 10 Nukes, Says US
Uranium – enough to make up to 10 nuclear weapons – is unaccounted for after Washington dropped six ‘bunker busters’ on three Iranian nuclear facilities last week. The missing uranium is seen as a powerful bargaining chip for Iran, whenever it opts to resume talks with the US on a new nuclear deal. Iran may have moved the stockpile, as well as some equipment, days before the attack to a secret location, a claim repeated by Israeli officials to The New York Times. But it is unclear what was moved and where it was moved to, although the US and Israel believe strongly it was shifted to another underground storage facility, near the ancient capital of Isfahan. Iran long has insisted its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. But claims it is building nukes was the red flag Israel waved before its attack. Tel Aviv even suggested Tehran was reaching a ‘point of no return’ in the nuclear weapon-making process. US intel suggested Iran was not pursuing nuclear weapons, and that it is at least three years from being able to make one.
There are reports Iran may have moved the stockpile, as well as some equipment, days before the attack to a secret location, a claim repeated by Israeli officials to The New York Times.
Satellite images from before the US’ strike showed a line of 16 trucks outside the Fordow nuclear plant, which is built inside a mountain and is considered impervious to most missile attacks, prompting Israel to ask the US to deploy its B-2 ‘Spirit’ bombers and the GBU-37 ‘bunker busters’ bombs early Sunday.
The bombs were dropped on the Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan nuclear facilities.
Post-attack images showed signficant damage to all three but the trucks were missing.
Images of Iran’s Fordow nuclear facility before and after the US’ ‘bunker buster’ attack.
But it is unclear what was moved and where it was moved to, although the US and Israel believe strongly it was shifted to another underground storage facility, near the ancient capital of Isfahan.
According to Rafael Grossi, chief of the IAEA – the International Atomic Energy Agency, a global nuclear watchdog – it had been last inspected a week before Israel’s first attack on Iran. Last week Grossi told the United Nations Security Council it is “essential” the IAEA resumes inspections as soon as possible.
He also warned the world that continued military escalation delays this “indispensable work” and degrades chances of a diplomatic solution to keep Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
Does Iran actually have nuclear weapons, or weapons-grade nuclear material?
Iran long has insisted its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.
But claims it is building nukes was the red flag Israel waved before its attack. Tel Aviv even suggested Tehran was reaching a ‘point of no return’ in the nuclear weapon-making process.
After Israel’s attacks Iran threatened to withdraw from the Non-Proliferation Treaty, the of the international system to stop the spread of nuclear weapons. Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Takht Ravanchi, rubbished claims the programme would be abandoned. “No one can tell us what to do…”
A satellite image of the mountain within which the Fordow nuclear plant is built.
However, the American narrative has been a little confusing in this regard.
According to a CNN report last week, after Israel’s first round of missile attacks US intel suggested Iran was not pursuing nuclear weapons, and that it is at least three years from being able to make one.
Intel also suggested Israel’s strikes had only set Iran back by a few months, largely because the bulk of the research was buried deep underground, in bases like Fordow that Israeli missiles cannot damage.
A senior official, however, told CNN Tehran does have all the necessary ingredients.
There was more confusion after Tulsi Gabbard, the US’ Director of National Intelligence, backtracked on what she told the Congress months ago – that Iran is not building nucler weapons.
But on Saturday she said Iran could produce them “within weeks”.
The switch came after President Donald Trump said her earlier info was “wrong”.
Trump had earlier given Iran a deadline of two weeks to reach a new nuclear safeguard deal, but acted after intel confirmed Israel could not effectively neutralise Iranian facilities without US assistance.
“We’re not involved in it (but) it’s possible we could…” Trump told ABC Sunday morning, hours before the US’ attack, and urged Iran and Israel to reach an accord on their own, “before it is too late”.
READ | Op Midnight Hammer: How US Bombed Iranian Nuclear Sites Without Detection
After the strikes Trump declared Iran’s nuclear programme had been “completely and totally obliterated” by the ‘bunker busters’ and a barrage of Tomahawk missiles fired as decoys. He hailed the 37-hour military op led by seven B-2 bombers flying radio silent and non-stop from an air base in Missouri.
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