Iran "Kicks It Up A Notch"

Israel does not have any interest in Iran's policies
UNLESS THEY INVOLVE ISRAEL. And, as we all
know, Iranians are Muslims and an existential threat
to Iran and the whole Western world.

Not sure Iran is a model for anyone. It comes across
as half Western (but hangs gays and jails young girls
for immodest dressing) and its half Shia.

All Iran has to do is live by its promises, not send
missiles against Saudi, don't sponsor global terrorism,
get out of Syria, Lebanon and Iraq and treat its
minorities, women and general public with respect.
And the whole world could love Iran.

 

Based on the CIA's own assessment, even under Bush, Iran had a covert nuclear program which also did preliminary studies on developing nuclear weapons until 2003. And afterwards, it abandoned that covert program.

But if it Iran had continued with the covert program, then it must have nukes already! Even its declared program was only weeks away from developing nukes based even on the antiquated centrifuge models it had installed and was using (IR-1 centrifuges). Iran's latest model centrifuges (IR-7) work 50 times faster than the IR-1.

You won't understand what this all means, stuck with some propaganda you have heard from the folks who you trust. But the truth is Iran doesn't have a nuclear weapons program but, if it did, it must be covert and that means it already has nukes. It can't be that Iran has a covert program but doesn't have nukes!

 

The history of Iran's covert nuclear programs is in the public domain.
I don't want to discuss it. It's as real as Israel's covert nuclear program.
Only Israel got there first. Imagine is a Middle East Muslim nation got
the bomb before Israel.
I am okay with the "propaganda" about Iran. It comes from liberal and
democratic nations whose many media outlets are often anti-American
and pro-left. The alternative is to believe in the words of a dictatorship.

 

1- Iran is overwhelmingly Shia (90%). (And you don't understand the first thing about Shia Islamic philosophy if you think they are an existential threat to anyone else by virtue of religion).
2- Iran does not hang gays. (A total fabrication that is accepted because it is repeated enough).
3- Iran is a threat to Israel, but that is because of geopolitical and revolutionary ideological reasons that have little or nothing much to do with religion.
4- Hijab enforcement is a complicated issue, as there are punishments for failing to observe Hijab rules in Iran. But the punishment (even if handed down) is from 1 day to 2 months in jail (and that is not the norm, with warnings the norm). Those who are put in jail that you have read about are put in jail for protesting the hijab rules following a campaign against the hijab organized by the US.

The promises Iran has made it has kept, not that it did it any good, since the US unilaterally broke out its commitment under the JCPOA. (You can call it "Obama's deal", but it doesn't matter, Obama was America's president and the JCPOA is even adopted as part of a UN security council resolution).

The attack against the Saudi oil facilities by the Houthis in Yemen (even if supported by Iran) was fully
justified. It did a lot of good.

Iran doesn't sponsor global "terrorism". It supports group with legitimate grass route, popular support, fighting occupation and US/Israeli hegemony in the region.

None of these countries belong to you or to the US. Iran's presence in them is due to legitimate factors, unlike the US presence in many other countries.

Iran's record on all these counts is better than you might think, but I would be the first to line up to fight for greater freedoms and rights for all Iranians if and when Iran wasn't facing the kind of foreign threats it faces. Stop interfering in Iran's affairs and stop using pretexts for doing so.

Believe it or not, those who actually visit Iran, often fall in love with it already. That includes even right wing pro Israeli Jews who have visited the country. But whether people love Iran or not isn't the issue.

 

Yes -- and that relates to Iran's activities before 2003. But that is history. If not, if Iran does have a covert program still, then Iran must have nukes already. It can't be otherwise since even its declared program was only weeks away from being able to build the bomb if and when it had decided to do so.

Iran has no friends in America, either in the left or in the right of its spectrum. Much of the propaganda against Iran cuts across America's political divide. But you believe what you wish. The only thing I fear is one day America being able to turn Iran to the image it is projecting of it!!! That would be horrific!

 

No doubt. Everybody I know believes Iran has nuclear weapons and has had them since their first purchase from North Korea however long ago.

It could turn Iran into something worse.

 

Wait? What about nuclear weapons? Sorry, I'm too busy reading IMPORTANT news, things like Trump's affair with a porn star and the stuff that MATTERS..who gives a **** about nukes?

 

The fact that Iran would attack an innocent third party, Israel, in retaliation for an American act of aggression show corrupt thinking devoid of logic, but then so does giving aid to Hamas and that is why Iran isn't a major player in the world.

 

The only people who have ever used nuclear weapons are the US.
I suspect it will be less that two years before the $ is no longer the reserve currency. Then the world can get sorted out free of the bully.

I have seen you write about your desire to have people exterminated. I do not think you can claim any moral high ground.

 

The answer to your question is as simple as it is revealing of who runs US Foreign Policy:


"AIPAC supports Iran sanction reimposition"
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/254283

 

Iran with nuclear weapons bad.
US with nuclear weapons good.
https://www.thenation.com/article/us-nuclear-arsenal-triad/
What would be the reaction in the US if Iran told us to stop producing nuclear weapons?

 

It is also in the public domain that iran ended it according to an intel study under bush jr. Is that why you dont want to talk about it?

Propaganda attempts to turn us into misinformed fools . I cannot imagine how that is good or acceptable. Except for dictatorship or fascism .

 

USA lacks the international influence to influence Iran. Thats the simple fact, beside that USA is not trustworthy and i doubt a civilisation which is 2500 years old negotiates with some creature like trump. It was funny how he raged when the iranians said they have no interest in meeting.

 

Do you really blame them? Look at all of the equally unstable countries in the region (and the world) that have nukes.

 

I see some earlier comments which suggest a lack of understanding regarding Iran's nuclear program. If Iran still has a secret or covert program, then its secret and no one knows anything about it. On the other hand, no part of Iran's declared program is subject to speculation: we know everything there is to know about it.

In this regard, just recall that everything associated with Iran's declared civilian nuclear program has been combed through meticulously.. The centrifuges Iran manufacturers are examined, including where they are produced; their parts studied, Iran's entire supply chain associated with every part and parcel of the entire nuclear fuel cycle (from mining uranium, to processing of the uranium, to its enrichment), and every machinery involved, has been carefully looked at. The factories that produce Iran's centrifuges are also inspected. The scientists, engineers, and others working on these projects have been interviewed. There isn't anything about Iran's declared nuclear program that is unknown or unknowable. The only obstacle Iran has presented to all the fishing expeditions about its nuclear program relate to its pre-2003 activitie, i.e. Iran's Past Nuclear Activities.

From all, what is undeniable and proven by Iran already is that (a) Iran is self-sufficient in its nuclear program, capable of producing everything from parts to the machinery involved domestically; and (b) Iran has fully mastered every step of the nuclear fuel cycle. What does that mean?

It means that if Iran wanted to enrich uranium to weapons grade levels (90%+), all it would need to do is to have its stockpile of lower enriched uranium to be further enriched using the cascades of centrifuges Iran has and is capable of producing and adding to at will. The centrifuges Iran had built initially were called IR-1 and appeared to be based on old designs obtained from Pakistan, but Iran has progressed way beyond the IR-1 centrifuges. Iran is now producing 6th and 7th generations of those centrifuges based on purely indigenous designs by Iran, with these new centrifuges capable of enriching uranium 10 times faster than the old ones. These are centrifuges that the IAEA has seen, inspected, and traced and combed as well. This is not something that Iran claims that isn't already proven. Indeed, the newest generation of Iran centrifuges (not yet installed) can enrich 50 times faster than the old generation centrifuges developed by Iran. This is a remarkable technological achievement by Iran which very few nations (even those with nuclear weapons) can claim.

The idea that Iran has a ongoing secret nuclear program but it has not yet produced nukes would be ridiculous. If Iran had such a program, it would have nukes and a huge stockpile by now. Those who want to engage in propaganda against Iran like to propel 2 inconsistent myths: (a) Iran has an ongoing secret nuclear program and (b) it has not yet produced nuclear weapons and, hence, there is time to 'act". Both cannot be true. If Iran had a covert nuclear program, and had decided to build nukes, it would have nukes already. As simple as 2+2=4.

 

@Robert E Allen

To the ones here who say Iran is isolated in the world...they see USA as world, when in fact USA is isolated. I guess many in USA have not realized yet, they are not "the world"

 

In a recent conversation with an Iranian friend who is here finishing his dissertation in Political Economics, he says, the nuclear capability is Iran's biggest domestically open secret; kind of like a private joke. However, I think Trump rescinding the deal is not helpful, but I do not think either way, Iran is so much more capable than we assume. As to the veracity of my friend's claim, one cannot know for sure...

 

Iranians as a people are incredibly resilient, and even within their own country, they lash back at both Presidents and Ayatollahs.

 

I would love for everyone to think Iran has nukes and, indeed, believe Iran's policy of not developing nukes is a mistake. But the truth matters more to me and the truth is that I don't believe Iran has developed nuclear weapons, despite for a long time being in a position to do so. The calculations behind this are complicated.

But what is demonstrably false is the narrative of the groups against Iran who are trying to have their cake and eat it too. If Iran had made a decision to develop nuclear weapons and had a secret program to do so, it would have nukes already. That is something that anyone who knows anything about what the inspections of Iran's nuclear program have clearly revealed, cannot deny. Even the idea that Iran has not yet mastered the capability to miniaturize a nuclear weapon to fit it into a missile warhead is based on the assumption (true) that Iran does not have a secret nuclear program and has not been working on that issue. Otherwise, there is really no reason why Iran wouldn't be able to master that either. But as far developing nuclear bombs --- every part of what it takes to have a workable nuclear bomb is already available to Iran in its declared nuclear program. The only thing that has stopped Iran building the bomb has been a decision not to pursue that course (a decision that is influenced by competing considerations, but which to me is wrong and misguided).

 

I too seek the truth, over hyperbole. I find the discussion of interest, and even if you are correct, as you appear here and in other threads to have some expertise on Iran, I have heard and read from some reputable sources it is possible Iran has more than we think they do, meaning, nuclear weapons capability; I am not claiming it is true, but it is a claim, I am researching--if it proves to be false, so be it, but even then this would bear fruit, why those from Iran, studying here, relatively Liberal-Progressive have a need to say Iran has the capability. I know as Obama was completing the much-needed agreement with Iran, he was also clearing the US and Israeli hacking via Stuxnet, which did slow Iran's nuclear program down considerably... Aside from this somewhat pedantic point, I think Iran is getting a bad deal overall in negotiations and what Trump is attempting here is not helpful.

 

Especially one that features Floyd the barber.

 

Here is an article https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...njection-of-uranium-gas-into-1044-centrifuges

My guess is that Iran is trying to get the Trump admin to the table so they can end the sanctions. Then it will go back to the original agreement - with some minor insignificant changes - and Trump can then declare a big win.

 

Nice pictures and you are partially right -- but not entirely

The flagship journal in American foreign policy remains the publication, Foreign Affairs, published by the American Council for Foreign Relations. Their new article on Iran says what I have said for the past few months here.

https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/iran/2019-11-05/iran-doing-just-fine
Iran Is Doing Just Fine
Tehran Has Survived U.S. Sanctions. Its Nuclear Program and Regional Activities Will, Too.
By Henry Rome November 5, 2019

 

It's amazing how Iran managed to ramp up their nuclear program eleventy jillion percent when they had assured the world that they had dismantled their nuclear weapons program in perfect compliance with Obama's wonderful nuclear deal.

Truly amazing.

 

It is only amazing because you don't know anything about the issue. Those who do, and they include inspectors who have seen Iranian facilities and factories and develop centrifuges and everything else, already knew that if Iran wanted to, it could build those centrifuges again. And build better ones as the newest Iranian centrifuges (which are again examined carefully by the IAEA, meaning the US and others) are also no secret. Indeed, one of the provisions of the JCPOA was to prevent Iran installing its newer generation centrifuges, although Iran insisted (and the JCPOA allowed) Iran to produce a limit number for research and development (as insurance in case what happened would happen).