Dafunkdoc_Unlimited
Theological Noncognitivist Since Birth
- Joined
- Jul 25, 2012
- Messages
- 45,063
- Reputation
- 8,154
- Daps
- 122,260
- Reppin
- The Wrong Side of the Tracks
The Israeli strike on Iran's Parchin military complex in late October will make it much harder for Iran to develop a nuclear explosive device if it chooses to do so, two Israeli officials told Axios.
Why it matters: The sophisticated equipment that was destroyed is needed to design and test plastic explosives that surround uranium in a nuclear device and are needed to detonate it. It dates back to before Iran ended its military nuclear program in 2003.
- Iran has resumed sensitive nuclear research over the past year, U.S. and Israeli officials tell Axios, but has not taken steps toward building an actual nuclear weapon.
- The Israeli officials said that if Iran does decide to pursue a nuclear weapon, it will need to replace the equipment that was destroyed — and if Iran tries to procure it, they believe they will be able to track it.
- "This equipment is a bottleneck. Without it the Iranians are stuck," a senior Israeli official with direct knowledge told Axios.
Driving the news: The Taleghan 2 facility in the Parchin military complex which was destroyed in the strike was used prior to 2003 for testing explosives needed to set off a nuclear device, according to the Institute for Science and International Security.
- The equipment was developed part of Iran's now-shuttered military nuclear program and has been stored facility for at least two decades, Israeli officials say.
- "They conducted scientific activity that could lay the ground for the production of a nuclear weapon. It was a top secret thing. A small part of the Iranian government knew about this, but most of the Iranian government didn't," a U.S. official said.
- The equipment at the Taleghan 2 facility has not been used in that research, but could have become critical in the latter stages if Iran decided to move towards a nuclear bomb.
- "This is equipment the Iranians would need in the future if they want to make progress towards a nuclear bomb. Now they don't have it anymore and it is not trivial. They will need to find another solution and we will see it," an Israeli official said.
- President Biden asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to attack the Iranian nuclear facilities in order not to trigger a war with Iran, U.S. officials said.
- But Taleghan 2 was not part of Iran's declared nuclear program so the Iranians wouldn't be able to acknowledge the significance of the attack without admitting they violated the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.
- "The strike was a not so subtle message that the Israelis have significant insight into the Iranian system even when it comes to things that were kept top secret and known to a very small group of people in the Iranian government," a U.S. official said.
