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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsIAEA - there was no imminent threat
Just lies as usual
IAEA chief: No evidence Iran is building a nuclear weapon
https://www.aljazeera.com/video/talk-to-al-jazeera/2025/6/19/iaea-chief-no-evidence-iran-is-building-a-nuclear-weapon

MorbidButterflyTat
(3,230 posts)I hate that creature more every day.
FarPoint
(14,063 posts)There is no set-up to evaluate Iran's current nuclear status, WMD etc.... no one, no inspectors to validate or dispute the known false claims...
ForgedCrank
(2,723 posts)only has one useful purpose.
03 March, 2025:
It has been four years since Iran stopped implementing its nuclear-related commitments under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), including provisionally applying its Additional Protocol and therefore it is also four years since the Agency was able to conduct complementary access in Iran.
https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/statements/iaea-director-generals-introductory-statement-to-the-board-of-governors-3-march-2025
So yea, these guys would know what's going on now since they were no longer allowed to actually inspect anything, right?
ProfessorGAC
(73,366 posts)Preferably over 93%.
Not sure what this guy's point is.
60% may not have many uses (submarine reactors), but it's not useful as a fission explosive.
And, if radiologic weaponry is the goal, 60% would be scary. But, that isn't even implied in that piece.
But, the enrichment from 60 to >90% is very expensive, very time consuming, and if they really had the capability to reach that high number, they would have done it.
Everything in that citation still doesn't meet the definition of "imminent".
ForgedCrank
(2,723 posts)that it is enriched far beyond what is required for any peaceful purpose.
People claiming there was no threat or no weapons program are whistling past the graveyard.
Even if they weren't trying to make weapons (which I find laughable), what does anyone suppose they were going to do with that? Give it to Hamas for Christmas?
ProfessorGAC
(73,366 posts)We're talking about justifying a military strike using "imminent threat" as the lever.
60% does not constitute an imminent threat.
So, the lack of other uses is irrelevant because what it is NOT is weapons grade.
I'm disputing the immediacy of the threat and that isn't whistling past the graveyard. You using that term doesn't mean it's accurate.
What is accurate is that there are miles & miles between 60% & weapons Grade.
Do I want Iran to have nukes? Absolutely not. But, I think they were so far from it that there is no justification for the recent events.
You seem to want to excuse this action by a guy who said he would not involve the US in wars unless the US was threatened. We weren't; they did it anyway. And, you seem to be good with it because "60%".
ForgedCrank
(2,723 posts)I suppose you thought tha tonce they hit 80%, they'll stop. And no way those trustworthy and peace-loving people of planet Earth would ever share that stuff with someone else.
All we have to do is be nice to them, right?
So sale
choie
(5,747 posts)people in this current situation.
NickB79
(19,959 posts)"No evidence Iran is building a nuclear weapon"
Note it doesn't use the word "imminent ".
Uranium enrichment above 5%, when no civilian reactor needs such enrichment, it in itself evidence of an attempt to build a nuke.
Now, you can argue that they gave up on that ambition years ago, or they hit technical roadblocks to reach 90% that meant a functional nuke was still years away. I agree, there's no evidence a working nuke was imminent.
But what you can't do is say there is no evidence they were, at some point, angling for a nuclear warhead while acknowledging a stockpile of highly enriched uranium.
SonOfNebanaube
(30 posts)Their allies are providing warheads
EX500rider
(11,914 posts)Also:
In 2023, uranium particles enriched to 83.7% purity were found at an Iranian nuclear facility, which is very close to weapons-grade levels.
and:
Iran accelerated its production of uranium enriched to near-weapons grade levels in November, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
In a Dec. 26 report, the IAEA noted that Iran is now producing approximately nine kilograms of uranium enriched to 60 percent uranium-235 per month. Iran was producing 60 percent enriched U-235 at a similar rate in early 2023, but decreased production by about two-thirds in June. (See ACT, October 2023.)
Accelerating the production of uranium enriched to 60 percent U-235 is concerning because the material can be quickly enriched to weapons-grade levels or 90 percent.
https://www.armscontrol.org/act/2024-02/news/iran-accelerates-highly-enriched-uranium-production
dsc
(52,985 posts)the NYT said that 60% was very close to 90%, that seems very unlikely to me. Usually any type of refinement or purification process gets harder and harder as one gets closer and closer to 100%. The NYT quote seems to imply the opposite. I am no scientist so I wasn't sure myself.
EndlessWire
(7,940 posts)They would not have stopped enriching the stuff. They would have kept going until they had a bomb.
I hope, that if we must be at war, that Israel kapoots the drones they sell to Russia, all the spare parts, and all the ICBMs.
If Iranh had not run its mouth about how much they hate Israel and America, and if they were not supplying Houthis who are messing up the world shipping, then I think they would have been okay. But, they declared their intent. Big mistake. The only other thing to think about is if they wanted to emulate Russia with the ability to threaten the use of a nuke to get stuff they wanted.
Melon
(469 posts)This is largerly supplied by Russia.
ForgedCrank
(2,723 posts)beside you on this one.
I am seriously pissed that we are now actively involved in this. I believe that Israel could have handled this on their own if we were willing to extend the assets to do so. There was no reason for us to do it except for serving up bragging rights for Trump.
On the other hand, we know full well that if Iran was able to make enough of it and continue refining, they would use it to make a bomb. I'm convinced that the Chinese would have shared the reflector and compression tech with them, and they probably already have.
It would be a grave error to think that the United States is in less danger than Israel regarding a nuclear armed Iran. As soon as they have a deliverable weapon, the WILL use it. These are not the kind of people you trust or try to make nice with, their only goal is their fanatic goal of spreading Islam by any means necessary. They literally view the Jews and the Western world as a devil needing destroyed.
Right now, very few people know exactly what Iran has since they have not cooperated for many years. I hate to give him any relief, but I'm having a hard time believing that the orange menace would do this for kicks knowing full well that at the very least, this is going to drastically impact our economy through energy costs. That's the thing he loves to brag about most. I have to surmise that they know something they are unwilling or unable to tell us. Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if Iran already has a weapon at some level.
appmanga
(1,193 posts)https://www.salon.com/2025/06/22/with-strikes-on-iran-has-chosen-a-path-of-insanity/
dpibel
(3,606 posts)Sez you: "As soon as they have a deliverable weapon, the WILL use it."
To what end?
You somehow believe that there would not be massive retaliation?
You believe that those in power in Iran are suicidal?
What you claim makes, actually, no sense.
this is a position one could take if they ignore the tenants and habits of the people in charge over there.
It's not a secret. The consider death in the course of fighting what they consider just to be honorable and holy. These people would kill you in a heartbeat if afforded the opportunity. And if they die in the process, so much the better in their eyes. They don't consider it "suicide". They even have a word for it: "Shahada".
It only makes no sense if you ignore reality.
dpibel
(3,606 posts)It's what's for dinner!
You do realize, I trust, that you have trotted out the stereotypes and fever dreams that have been applied down through the years.
Particularly the years when GW Bush was lying the country into the Great Iraq War.
If you honestly believe that the leadership of Iran would develop a nuke for the sole purpose of committing national suicide, I don't think you live in the same reality as I, or many others, do.
Hell, if they want so desperately to commit national suicide, they can do it without nukes.
ForgedCrank
(2,723 posts)those are unbiased facts. Sorry if it breaks things for you.
And as I said before, they don't consider it "suicide" in any way.
You never fail to deliver the laughs.
Truly. You cannot actually believe what you're saying.
But that's kind of the idea, innit?
couldn't march for you. It's clear that you are either trolling me, or you know about zero regarding the Shia Muslim sect.
Either way, happy trails to you
They needed more justification. Trump have them that.
choie
(5,747 posts)The only reason to forestall attempts at diplomacy would be if the danger was imminent, which it wasnt. Trump dropping bombs on them was done for his own personal reasons, having nothing to do with whats good for this country.
EndlessWire
(7,940 posts)lost track of all the diplomacy that rump pulled us out of. I believe that someone could steadfastly engage in diplomacy all the while continuing to do the thing we want them to stop.
I don't trust rump dilomacy by rump because it usually contains a trump hotel at the end of it. He receives bribes like crazy. So, I don't trust it. I don't consider it diplomacy for trump to demand unconditional surrender from Iran.
Joe, on the other hand, did well at keeping us out of war. He and his staff had skill. Netanyahu didn't want to deal with him because he urged restraint after Oct. 7th. Israel hasn't stopped since in committing genocide.
I'm not pro in any way. I just want all this sh*t to stop. And, we need to fight rump at home.
NNadir
(36,112 posts)Many still do, although efforts to reduce this reliance are undrrway.
The number of nuclear wars that resulted from this use was/is zero.
People killed by scare stories about highly enriched uranium or claims it's being used merely to construct a nuclear weapon is not zero. It includes several hundred thousand dead Iraqis, killed by fossil fuel powered weapons of mass destruction.
EndlessWire
(7,940 posts)that striving to obtain a nuclear bomb isn't frought with danger. At the very least, it could be used to threaten the rest of the world. We have the example of Russia. Whenever they are in the deep doo doo, they threaten a nuclear strike. This has enabled them to make war with Ukraine, when they are the aggressor. Iran is a supplier of drones to Russia. At least the parts. I wouldn't cry if that went away. I wouldn't care if all the ICBMs disappeared.
Having said that, I have no intention to debate the wisdom or foolhardiness of this strike. I despise trump. I think he lies for a living. And he is transactional, so he did this for personal profit, in some way we haven't seen. Bibi whispering in his ear sweet nothings to get the US to back him. I used to respect Israel, but after watching them ethnically cleansing Gaza--not so much. I think that Israel has their own monster to contend with, and they can't seem to get rid of him, either. But what Iran is doing in the region is unacceptable. Especially since they back the Houthis who are messing up the world shipping.
I feel bad for the Iranian people, but I have since their Morality Police have beaten to death little girls who aren't packing nuclear weapons in their hijabs. I have no use for their leadership.
I'm against war. I am against Netanyahu, who clearly lobbied for our bunker buster bombs. I am against the "antisemite" crap trump is using to beat down our educational system. I will not vote for any Repub ever again.
I'm just sad for us all. Sad for my country. I think this pr*ck stole the election and is now making haste to establish himself as a dictator. My country. So, I'm not in favor of anything he does. He is a liar, he's stupid, and his diplomacy consists of threats. He really thinks he can bully his way to a Nobel Prize.
Excuse me, I need more chocolate.
NNadir
(36,112 posts)EndlessWire
(7,940 posts)I'm not trying to convince you of anything. I think that 60% is way more than they need, but my knowledge of the nuclear industry is limited. I don't recall the US burying our nuclear energy plants under ground, so I find that suspicious. Sue me. Part of my point is that the Iranians have an intent to fight, and they voiced it. All the optics say that they want a nuclear bomb. How useful for their purposes that would be.
But, we have a weak pRes who listens to flattery, has emotional needs to puff himself up, and we are not safe with him at the helm. Moreover, he has a cabinet that surely is the stupidest, most unqualified that we have ever seen. Their qualifications are that they kissed his ass to get their jobs. So, I have no faith that they can think their way out of a paper bag. All Repubs have gone stark, raving mad.
This new problem we have has an assortment of positives and negatives. I think that Netanyahu will kill far more Iranians than he needs to do. We'll see. But, in view of what he did to Gaza, I think Iran is in trouble. I am not happy about any of this. That's why I said I had mixed feelings. I want Ukraine to get a break, too. Another problem.
You beat a youngster to death because she took off a scarf, or worse yet, just wore it incorrectly, and you do not get support from me. I don't support the Iranian leadership. I feel bad for civilians. But, nobody gave a sh*t when Ukraine begged for help three years or so ago, and no one will come running to help us, either. We have to police our ownselves within our own borders. We can't get destracted from our own ground fight to rid our government of fascism.
I don't know how this will turn out. I only know that when trump demanded unconditional surrender from Iran, he was playing to the crowd. "Peace through strength," my ass. Bullying is all he knows!
I need more chocolate.
NNadir
(36,112 posts)...ran on highly enriched uranium for decades.
Is anyone calling for bombing the Netherlands?
The reason for using highly enriched uranium is to have a high neutron flux in the reactor in order to generate radioisotopes in a concentrated matrix for safety and handing reasons.
People who cheer for killing people based on nuclear issues generally do not have very much insight to those issues. They kill people out of ignorance.
ForgedCrank
(2,723 posts)Netherlands called for the destruction of Israel and the United States? Hadn't heard that one. Maybe we should add them to the list, eh?
That must be one huge ass Iranian reactor "for medical use" if it needs 250KG of 60% Uranium.
Seems like you just don't like reality maybe. And no none here is cheering about anything. Are voices in your head telling you these things?
NNadir
(36,112 posts)Several hundred thousand people, human beings all, were killed early in this century because of people in this country who don't understand shit about nuclear technology.
Now we have blood thirsty thugs falling for the same bullshit.
This suggests that their ignorance of nuclear technology has negative ethical results as well.
It is telling that the admirers of the orange ignoramus in the White House here have no objections to an obviously insane person having access to thousands of nuclear weapons.
That I think is a serious concern, not that apologists for war have either the moral or technical sense to grasp it.
Under these conditions are foreign governments allowed to kill American scientists, at say, Los Alamos?
ForgedCrank
(2,723 posts)I forget that I'm an illiterate boob and that you know more than me. After all, nuclear tech is SO hard to understand and there is no way my smooth brain could comprehend such complexities. Please forgive my indiscretions.
I'll ask again: Did scientists at Los Alamos threaten to wipe Israel off the map? But hey, what do I know anyway, I'm stupid, remember? I should have stayed in school past 6th grade I guess, then maybe I could be more like you.
NNadir
(36,112 posts)I agree with your self description.
ForgedCrank
(2,723 posts)My only request is that your dad doesn't beat up my dad.
NNadir
(36,112 posts)EndlessWire
(7,940 posts)NO ONE is cheering or even slightly happy that Iranians are dying. Well, maybe Netanyahu. But, most people on this board are simply sorting the issues out.
The idea that Iran is enriching uranium to generate medical radioisotopes is not going to fly. Otherwise they would have branded it and invited us in to view their fabulous new self sustaining enterprise.
Give me a break.
NNadir
(36,112 posts)argued that enrichment can be made - and should be made - irrelevant.
I did so on another website: On Plutonium, Nuclear War, and Nuclear Peace
It isn't irrelevant now, however. There are good reasons to enrich uranium, since current technology to save lives from things like extreme global heating, relies on it.
It is 80 years since the last nuclear war, but only hours since the last fossil fuel war, assuming one isn't going on right now, in which case people are being killed by fossil fuel weapons of mass destruction continuously
I'll be interested in these tortured violent assumptions when people start bombing oil refineries to prevent people from making napalm. Until then, consider me unimpressed.
Nuclear ignorance kills people. The death toll in Iraq alone is enormous from the exact same line of bullshit that's being handed out now. Nuclear weapons have not killed people for well over half a century.
The assumption of moral superiority over the Iranians is absurd, particularly for citizens of a country with thousands of nuclear weapons and an obviously insane fascist leader, who people here are praising for his homicidal tendencies.
Skittles
(165,578 posts)Trump pretty much knows he can do the same
BidenRocks
(1,746 posts)We have been buried in Bullshit!
surfered
(7,628 posts)W made decisions with his gut. Trump does, too, but is gut is full of Big Macs and Diet Coke.
malaise
(285,964 posts)Slobfather Donvict 😀
lastlib
(26,202 posts)you left out dysenteric whaleshit.
Skittles
(165,578 posts)that's why Cheney installed himself as VP
multigraincracker
(35,936 posts)They have never liked or trusted us since Big Oil installed the Shah in exchange for 40% of THIER oil.
malaise
(285,964 posts)Rec
Celerity
(50,622 posts)The 1953 Iranian coup d'état, known in Iran as the 28 Mordad coup d'état ( Persian: کودتای ۲۸ مرداد ), was the overthrow of Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh on 19 August 1953. Led by the Iranian army and supported by the United States and the United Kingdom, the coup aimed at strengthening the autocratic rule of the shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. A key motive was to protect British oil interests in Iran after its government refused to concede to western oil demands. It was instigated by the United States (under the name TP-AJAX Project or Operation Ajax) and the United Kingdom (under the name Operation Boot). This began a period of dissolution for Iranian democracy and society.
Mosaddegh had sought to audit the documents of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC), a British corporation (now part of BP), to verify that AIOC was paying the contracted royalties to Iran, and to limit the company's control over Iranian oil reserves. Upon the AIOC's refusal to cooperate with the Iranian government, the parliament (Majlis) voted to nationalize Iran's oil industry and to expel foreign corporate representatives from the country. After this vote, Britain instigated a worldwide boycott of Iranian oil to pressure Iran economically. Initially, Britain mobilized its military to seize control of the British-built Abadan oil refinery, then the world's largest, but Prime Minister Clement Attlee (in power until 1951) opted instead to tighten the economic boycott while using Iranian agents to undermine Mosaddegh's government. Judging Mosaddegh to be unamenable and fearing the growing influence of the communist Tudeh, UK prime minister Winston Churchill and the Eisenhower administration decided in early 1953 to overthrow Iran's government. The preceding Truman administration had opposed a coup, fearing the precedent that Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) involvement would set, and the U.S. government had been considering unilateral action (without UK support) to assist the Mosaddegh government as late as 1952. British intelligence officials' conclusions and the UK government's solicitations to the US were instrumental in initiating and planning the coup.
Following the coup, a government under General Fazlollah Zahedi was formed which allowed Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the shah of Iran (Persian for 'king'), to rule more firmly as monarch. He relied heavily on United States support to hold on to power. According to the CIA's declassified documents and records, some of the most feared mobsters in Tehran were hired by the CIA to stage pro-shah riots on 19 August. Other men paid by the CIA were brought into Tehran in buses and trucks and took over the streets of the city. Between 200 and 300 people were killed because of the conflict. Mosaddegh was arrested, tried and convicted of treason by the Shah's military court. On 21 December 1953, he was sentenced to three years in jail, then placed under house arrest for the remainder of his life. Other Mosaddegh supporters were imprisoned, and several received the death penalty. The coup strengthened the Shah's authority, and he continued to rule Iran for the next 26 years as a pro-Western monarch until he was overthrown in the Iranian Revolution in 1979.
In August 2013, the U.S. government formally acknowledged the U.S. role in the coup by releasing a bulk of previously classified government documents that show it was in charge of both the planning and the execution of the coup. According to American journalist Stephen Kinzer, the operation included false flag attacks, paid protesters, provocations, the bribing of Iranian politicians and high-ranking security and army officials, as well as pro-coup propaganda. The CIA is quoted as acknowledging the coup was carried out "under CIA direction" and "as an act of U.S. foreign policy, conceived and approved at the highest levels of government". In 2023, the CIA took credit for the coup, contradicting a previous scholarly assessment that the CIA had botched the operation, though other assessments agreed that America and Britain had engineered the coup.
snip
multigraincracker
(35,936 posts)No one hates us for our freedoms. They hates us for the Shah, the opium wars and Gulf of Tonkin false attack. Fake excuses to steal form Brown folks.
choie
(5,747 posts)bring history and facts into this discussion!
sinkingfeeling
(55,758 posts)Mosby
(18,774 posts)https://www.reuters.com/world/china/iaea-board-declares-iran-breach-non-proliferation-duties-diplomats-say-2025-06-12/
Atomic watchdog says Iran not complying with nuclear safeguards
https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/06/1164291
Global watchdog finds Iran failing to meet nuclear obligations
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce3v6w2qr12o
iemanja
(56,189 posts)SunImp
(2,514 posts)LiberalArkie
(18,508 posts)AZ8theist
(6,766 posts)Aussie105
(7,078 posts)It has been said for many years - Iran is weeks away from having nuclear bombs!
The logic of course, is that Iran will use them not as negotiating tools but as a quick way to turn all of Israel into a radioactive desert.
It will be the first country since Hiroshima and Nagasaki to do so.
Have any of the Iranian leaders, past and present, ever said so?
Would they nuke Israel in the full knowledge American nukes would do the same to Iran?
As for that '60% enrichment achieved! The US must now panic and act!' number, what is the source of that information, and how reliable is that?
So the state of play currently - the US uses WMDs to try to stop Iran from developing their own WMDs.
I think I know where we are heading.
malaise
(285,964 posts)Rec
Melon
(469 posts)They have no use for 60% uranium outside of enriching it further to weapon grade.
They have one nuclear energy plant. It requires 3.5%-5% Uranium. Iran uses the enriched Uranium thus far to negotiate. But they increased inventory 25% from Q4 2024 until Q1. The only countries that can enrich Uranium to the 60% level do so for weapons.
Ping Tung
(2,889 posts)By the time it was over 1.4 million civilian casualties were produced but saved from the dominoes that never fell.
Now Trump & Co have erected another scary Bogeyman to justify another failed war just like the invisible WMDs did in Iraq.
"Our scientific power has out-run our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men."
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr
H2O Man
(77,133 posts)Same playbook as they always use.
Jack Valentino
(2,611 posts)Just a possible longer-term threat... which did not demand that Trump bomb Iran on Saturday.
Now, whatever the Israelis may have been demanding, is another question altogether.
yourout
(8,479 posts)Response to malaise (Original post)
choie This message was self-deleted by its author.
spanone
(139,511 posts)Maybe that's the price bibi agreed to pay him?
Lulu KC
(8,150 posts)Argh.
applegrove
(126,514 posts)FullySupportDems
(348 posts)Who will be left when we're done killing for peace?
-misanthroptimist
(1,384 posts)...before the attacks. Crickets.
I even looked for evidence elsewhere. All I came up with was the 60% enrichment thing.
Iran was no threat if the available evidence is to be believed.
spanone
(139,511 posts)He's a maga hero now.
SO TIRED OF THIS FUCKING GUY.
Its sickening
EX500rider
(11,914 posts)The draft for Thursdays resolution highlights serious and growing concerns since at least 2019 that Iran had failed to cooperate fully with the UN agencys inspectors.
Tehran has repeatedly been unable to explain and demonstrate that its nuclear material was not being diverted for further enrichment for military use, the draft text maintains.
Iran has also failed to provide the UN agency with technically credible explanations for the presence of [man-made] uranium particles at undeclared locations in Varamin, Marivan and Turquzabad, it continues.
Unfortunately, Iran has repeatedly either not answered, or not provided technically credible answers to, the agencys questions, IAEA chief Grossi said on Monday. It has also sought to sanitize the locations, which has impeded Agency verification activities.
According to Mr. Grossi, Tehran has stockpiled 400 kilogrammes of highly enriched uranium.
Given the potential proliferation implications, the agency cannot ignore [this], he told the UN agencys governing board on Monday.
https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/06/1164291