To put it frankly, Iran is being untruthful with their recent announcement proclaiming that they will work together with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the world’s nuclear watchdog charged with monitoring Iran’s nuclear development.
To perhaps be less harsh, this writer would categorize Iran's leadership as being less than forthcoming.
When Mohammad Eslami, who holds the position of vice president and head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, spoke on behalf of the AEOI, he said: "The Islamic Republic of Iran is working under the IAEA safeguards, and whenever wants to start new activities, it will coordinate with the IAEA and act accordingly."
Eslami’s statement was provoked by the revelation of renewed evidence that Iran is very close to 90% uranium enrichment. In other words, Iran — the nemesis of the Western world, is nuclear weapons viable.
Iran’s Atomic Energy head tried to push aside the truth claiming that all the noise surrounding his country’s nuclear capability is generated by Israel, because Israel is frightened.
But please, don’t take their fear seriously.
Reports that have been made public and have even been published in Western media attest to the fact that the nuclear facility in Natanz is where the most advanced nuclear production in Iran is taking place.
These reports corroborate Israeli political and intelligence leadership that has been shouting about Iran being on the nuclear threshold for several months.
Israel asserts that Iran can, within days, achieve the nuclear enrichment levels necessary to make an atomic bomb. But, they point out, Teheran still lacks the ability to make the weapon and to deliver it.
Overcoming these two obstacles is just a matter of time.
In order to protect their nuclear labs, Iran has built a complex of tunnels even deeper than the earlier tunnels that they has built, far beneath the ground in Natanz.
Reports are that the tunnels are 80 meters, or 262 feet, below the surface. Some estimates are that the tunnels could be as deep as 100 meters, or 328 feet, below the ground.
Satellite photos show mounds of dirt piled high all over the area.
This is particularly worrisome.
The GBU 57 bombs are the best bunker buster bombs in today’s world.
And the GBU 57 bombs were specifically designed by the United States for the express purpose of striking this kind of Iranian nuclear facilities.
And the GBU 57 is effective only up to 60 meters, or 192 feet, which is far shy of the new Natanz tunnels.
In July of 2020 some country, the assumption being that it was probably Israel, successfully blew up part of the Iran’s supersecret nuclear lab in Natanz.
The operation clearly used human assets to plant and destroy the enrichment operation, setting back the Islamic Republic of Iran’s plans by several years.
As an aside — one cannot even imagine the amount of planning required to pull off an operation like that.
It damaged the facility, it damaged the hardware and it did not kill anyone.
The operation clearly required a detailed and intricate understanding of the internal operations of Natanz nuclear facility.
Iran referred to the incident as an accident.
Earlier in 2010 Israel, with the help of the U.S., successfully planted Stuxnet, a computer virus that completely shut down and destroyed Iran’s nuclear system and forced them to rebuild. Stuxnet made its way from Europe to Asia to Iran.
The virus was carried through Siemens technology and probably inserted with a flash drive. Stuxnet remained dormant and undetectable until it was activated by Israel. Then it became dormant again.
Over the years there have numerus successful operations that delayed Iran’s nuclear development.
Some Iranian nuclear sites were so secret they were not even known to IAEA for inspection. Iran’s nuclear sites are, arguably, some of the most protected sites in the world.
And now Iran claims they are cooperating. It is a ploy.
In fact, Iran is already enriching 23 times more uranium than the infamous July 14, 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), more commonly known as The Iran Nuclear Deal, permitted.
But it's not just the level of enrichment that's worrisome.
It is also the quantity of their fuel.
Israeli officials report that Iran currently has enough enriched fuel for 10 weapons.
The AFP (Agence France Press) reports that they saw a confidential IAEA report stating that Iran has far exceeded the agreed limit in their enrichment stockpile of 202.8 kilos which is 445 pounds.
As of May 13, 2023 Iran has collected 4744.5 kilos or 10,459 pounds.
Enough for 10 nuclear bombs, that bolsters the Israeli report.
True to form, Iran is not permitting the IAEA to reinstall all their original monitoring devices and they are certainly not allowing the new devices that the IAEA would like to place in Natanz and in Fordow, which is built inside a mountain.
It’s déjà vu all over again.
A surgical multi-target missile attack by Israel is inevitable.
Micah Halpern is a political and foreign affairs commentator. He founded "The Micah Report" and hosts "Thinking Out Loud with Micah Halpern," a weekly TV program, and "My Chopp," a daily radio spot. Follow him on Twitter @MicahHalpern. Read Micah Halpern's Reports — More Here.
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