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assassinations, enriched uranium, HEU, highly enriched uranium, IAEA, Iran, Iran’s nuclear program, Iranian air defense, Iranian nuclear program, Israel, LEU, missing nuclear materials, Natanz Nuclear Facility, nuclear weapons, nuclear weapons program, Parchin, sabotage, Tehran, Tehran Province, Turquzabad, uranium mining, uranium stockpile, Varamin, weapons grade uranium, Weapons of Mass Destruction
“Iran’s breakout time to produce an arsenal of nuclear weapons is now weeks — mere weeks,” Israeli Ambassador Gilad Erdan said. Grossi told reporters that while Iran has a stockpile of enriched uranium at “very, very high levels,” that does not automatically mean they have a nuclear weapon. “As far as the agency is concerned, we don’t have any information or indication that there is a nuclear weapons program in Iran,” Grossi said. “At the same time, while we say this, which we need to say, we are telling our Iranian counterparts that this important accumulation of nuclear material, at levels that are very, very close — technically identical almost to weapons grade level — of course is not irrelevant and raises questions in the international community.” In its quarterly report in February, the IAEA said based on information provided by Iran, it had an estimated total enriched uranium stockpile of 5,525.5 kilograms (about 12,182 pounds), an increase of 1,038.7 kilograms (2,289 pounds) since the previous quarterly report in November 2023. Of that, an estimated 121.5 kilograms (267.8 pounds) of uranium is enriched up to 60% purity, which is one step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%. Iran maintains that its nuclear program is for purely peaceful civilian purposes.” Excerpted from: https://www.voanews.com/a/iaea-chief-inspectors-briefly-halted-work-in-iran-amid-regional-tensions/7571613.html
“Highly enriched uranium (HEU) has a 20% or higher concentration of 235U. The fissile uranium in nuclear weapon primaries usually contains 85% or more of 235U known as weapons grade, though theoretically for an implosion design, a minimum of 20% could be sufficient (called weapon-usable) although it would require hundreds of kilograms of material and “would not be practical to design”… The very first uranium bomb, Little Boy, dropped by the United States on Hiroshima in 1945, used 64 kilograms (141 lb) of 80% enriched uranium…. The critical mass for 85% highly enriched uranium is about 50 kilograms (110 lb), which at normal density would be a sphere about 17 centimetres (6.7 in) in diameter. Later U.S. nuclear weapons usually use plutonium-239 in the primary stage, but the jacket or tamper secondary stage, which is compressed by the primary nuclear explosion often uses HEU with enrichment between 40% and 80%[11] along with the fusion fuel lithium deuteride.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enriched_uranium
The alleged relocation of Iranian air defense suggests that the nuclear weapons sites are in the areas near Tehran: “Iran has reportedly relocated its air defense systems just days after shutting down nuclear sites over fears of a potential Israeli attack. Footage circulating online appears to depict the S300, S200, and Bavar-373 defense systems gearing up for a possible Israeli assault on Iran’s capital.”https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/iran-moves-air-defense-systems-as-it-shuts-down-nuclear-sites-over-israeli-retaliation-fears/ar-BB1lJxuy
Turquzabad and Varamin are in Tehran Province. Parchin is also south of Tehran but northeast of Varamin.
The IAEA “Director General regrets that once again there has been no progress in resolving the outstanding safeguards issues in this reporting period. Iran still has not: provided the Agency with technically credible explanations for the presence of uranium particles of anthropogenic origin at Varamin and Turquzabad and informed the Agency of the current location(s) of related nuclear material and/or of contaminated equipment; or implemented modified Code 3.1.
38. The Director General notes the corrected nuclear material accounting reports provided by Iran regarding the discrepancy in the nuclear material balance at UCF. He also notes that this indicates that the amount of uranium contained in the solid waste sent from JHL to UCF for dissolution was less than had been declared by Iran in 2003-2004.33 This new element requires further consideration by the Agency….
As previously reported,21 in March 2022, the Agency verified at the Uranium Conversion Facility (UCF) the dissolution of 302.7 kg of natural uranium, as declared by Iran, in the form of solid waste and items of uranium metal transferred from the Jaber Ibn Hayan Multipurpose Laboratory (JHL). The Agency identified a discrepancy that needed to be addressed in the amount of nuclear material it had verified compared to the amount declared by Iran. Iran confirmed the existence of a discrepancy (shortfall) and agreed to work with the Agency to address it…” https://www.iaea.org/sites/default/files/gov2024-8.pdf
“Iranian-American VP of TVA Watts Bar Nuclear Unit 2 (During Construction): Guilty of Illegally Sending Money to Iran; Discriminating Against Nuclear Whistleblower; Watts Bar Makes Tritium for US Nuclear Weapons” https://miningawareness.wordpress.com/2016/10/23/iranian-american-vp-of-tva-watts-bar-nuclear-unit-2-during-construction-guilty-of-illegally-sending-money-to-iran-discriminating-against-nuclear-whistleblower-watts-bar-makes-tritium-for-us-nucl/
“Iranian Official: High-Level Nuclear Cooperation with Russia in Progress” https://miningawareness.wordpress.com/2018/09/26/iranian-official-high-level-nuclear-cooperation-with-russia-in-progress/
“Iran Atomic Agency Spokesman Boasts Of Enriched Uranium Stockpile” https://miningawareness.wordpress.com/2020/09/12/iran-atomic-agency-spokesman-boasts-of-enriched-uranium-stockpile/
“Iran Says Fire At Natanz Nuclear Facility Caused Significant Damage; ME Intel Official Said Israel Planted a Bomb’ https://miningawareness.wordpress.com/2020/07/06/iran-says-fire-at-natanz-nuclear-facility-caused-significant-damage-me-intel-official-said-israel-planted-a-bomb/
The original Iran Primer map called most of these sites “civilian”. There’s really no such thing. So-called civilian nuclear power creates the preconditions for nuclear weapons. This blog started off as a mining blog, soon including uranium mining, then focused on nuclear power and nuclear weapons, so details are in the early archives.
https://iranprimer.usip.org/blog/2021/apr/12/israeli-sabotage-iran’s-nuclear-program
From Iran Primer:
“Israeli Sabotage of Iran’s Nuclear Program
April 12, 2021 https://iranprimer.usip.org/blog/2021/apr/12/israeli-sabotage-iran’s-nuclear-program
Since 2010, Israel has been widely linked to a least a dozen attacks on Iran’s nuclear program. Jerusalem and Tehran are nearly 1,000 miles apart. Yet Israel has reportedly penetrated deep into Iranian territory and its most secure facilities in two waves. The first wave, mainly cyberattacks and assassinations, was between 2010 and 2012 before the launch of nuclear diplomacy with Iran by the world’s six major powers. The second began in 2018 and has included a Mossad raid, an assassination, and explosions. Israel has allegedly used four different tactics:
* Cyberattacks: In 2010, Iran reported that the Stuxnet computer virus destroyed [1] hundreds of centrifuges used to enrich uranium at the Natanz nuclear enrichment facility. The virus was reportedly jointly developed by Israel and the United States. In 2012, Iran said that another computer virus, dubbed Flame, infected [2] government computers at nuclear facilities and stole data.
* Assassinations: Five Iranian nuclear scientists were assassinated [3] between 2010 and 2020. Iran usually blamed Israel, sometimes the United States, or their local accomplices.
* Explosions: In 2020, a mysterious explosion caused extensive damage [4] at the Natanz centrifuge factory. In 2021, a second explosion destroyed [5] the power supply and damaged underground centrifuges used to enrich uranium at Natanz.
* Raid: In January 2018, Mossad intelligence agents carried out a raid that stole [6] tens of thousands of documents from a warehouse in Tehran housing Iran’s nuclear archive.
Israel has long viewed Iran’s nuclear program as a potential existential threat [7]. “I will never allow Iran to obtain the nuclear capability to carry out its genocidal goal of eliminating Israel,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said [8] on April 12, 2021. Israel’s goal appears to be either to destroy the program or at least delay the so-called breakout time needed to enrich enough uranium for a nuclear bomb. The breakout time in 2016, when the nuclear deal went into effect during the Obama administration, was at least a year. President Trump abandoned the deal in mid-2018. In response, Iran began a series of gradual breaches of the deal—most involved higher enrichment or installing more advanced centrifuges—in mid-2019. When President Biden took office in 2021, the breakout time was estimated [9]to be two or three months.
On April 6, 2021, the Biden administration began indirect diplomacy with Iran—including the five other world powers—designed to get both the United States and Iran back into full compliance with the nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). After one week of talks, Israel reportedly sabotaged Natanz on April 11 for the second time in a year. Repairs to restore the Natanz facility to full production of enriched uranium—the fuel that can be used both for peaceful nuclear energy or as one of three steps in constructing a nuclear weapon—could take up to nine months [10].
Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), condemned the attack as “nuclear terrorism,” and Foreign Minister Javad Zarif blamed Israel. “We will take our revenge against the Zionists,” Zarif told [11] state television. In a brief statement[12], the White House said that the United States was “not involved in any manner.”
Read the continuation with a detailed timeline here: https://iranprimer.usip.org/blog/2021/apr/12/israeli-sabotage-iran’s-nuclear-program https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parchin
“IAEA chief: Inspectors briefly halted work in Iran amid regional tensions” April 15, 2024 8:50 PM By Margaret Besheer https://www.voanews.com/a/iaea-chief-inspectors-briefly-halted-work-in-iran-amid-regional-tensions/7571613.html
https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/RL/RL34544/56
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_facilities_in_Iran
https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/incident-reported-in-iranian-natanz-nuclear-facility-664792
References for the Iran Primer article:
[1] https://isis-online.org/isis-reports/detail/stuxnet-malware-and-natanz-update-of-isis-december-22-2010-reportsupa-href1/
[2] https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/iran-acknowledges-that-flame-virus-has-infected-computers-nationwide/2012/05/29/gJQAzlEF0U_story.html
[3] https://iranprimer.usip.org/index.php/blog/2020/dec/02/part-5-assassinations-iran-nuclear-scientists
[4] https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/05/world/middleeast/iran-Natanz-nuclear-damage.html
[5] https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/11/world/middleeast/iran-nuclear-natanz.html
[6] https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/15/us/politics/iran-israel-mossad-nuclear.html
[7] https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel/1617825943-netanyahu-israel-will-defend-itself-against-existential-threat-regardless-of-iran-nuclear-deal
[8] https://www.wsj.com/articles/iran-blames-israel-for-attack-on-nuclear-facility-vows-to-retaliate-11618229993
[9] https://isis-online.org/isis-reports/detail/analysis-of-iaea-iran-verification-and-monitoring-report-November-2020
[10] https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/11/world/middleeast/iran-nuclear-natanz.html
[11] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-nuclear-natanz-idUSKBN2BZ0HD
[12] https://www.reuters.com/article/iran-nuclear-natanz-usa-int/u-s-was-not-involved-in-iran-nuclear-site-incident-white-house-idUSKBN2BZ24M
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