US weighs sending forces into Iran to secure nuclear stockpile, reports say (www.theguardian.com)
from breakfastmtn@piefed.ca to world@lemmy.world on 11 Mar 02:38
https://piefed.ca/c/world/p/580335/us-weighs-sending-forces-into-iran-to-secure-nuclear-stockpile-reports-say

Tehran has enough material to make at least 10 nuclear warheads but extracting it would be very risky, say experts

The Trump administration is reportedly considering the deployment of special forces into Iran to secure its stockpile of highly enriched uranium (HEU), which experts say could be used to make at least 10 nuclear warheads.

Preventing Iran from acquiring a bomb is one of Trump’s stated war aims, and the 440kg HEU stockpile represents the greatest nuclear threat as it could be turned into weapons-grade uranium relatively easily. The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has told Congress that “people are going to have to go and get it”.

Rubio did not go into greater detail, but there have been US and Israeli reports on discussions between the two countries on how such a mission might be carried out by special forces from either or both militaries. But nuclear experts say the complexity and risk involved would be considerable.

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Zedstrian@sopuli.xyz on 11 Mar 03:06 next collapse

Preventing Iran from acquiring a bomb is one of Trump’s stated war aims

Something that could have been achieved through continued negotiations, resulting in far fewer lives lost and less money wasted. Assassinating Iran’s leaders and threatening to invade only serves to bolster their justifications for seeking nuclear weapons in the first place.

Sunforged@lemmy.ml on 11 Mar 03:22 next collapse

At this point Iran having the bomb would be more stabilizing for the region than if they are prevented from it.

sepi@piefed.social on 11 Mar 04:00 collapse

I predict the US will sell Iran some bombs ro bring stability back to the region. I’ll bet 2 dimes and a nickel on this.

floofloof@lemmy.ca on 11 Mar 07:23 collapse

It’s also something they claimed to have achieved last year when they bombed Iran.

SeeMarkFly@lemmy.ml on 11 Mar 03:15 next collapse

Is this the nuclear stockpile that Trump destroyed last year?

tal@lemmy.today on 11 Mar 03:35 collapse

That was the enrichment facility, but Iran won’t have kept the output it generated prior to it being bombed there.

favoredponcho@lemmy.zip on 11 Mar 03:36 next collapse

So, ground war it is. Sounds like a quagmire in the making.

EvergreenGuru@lemmy.world on 11 Mar 04:11 collapse

The mountains of Iran are not for the faint of heart.

HumanOnEarth@lemmy.ca on 11 Mar 03:57 next collapse

Yet…yet… there are sources in the government who have been in closed door meetings say the real reasons have nothing to do with Iran’s nuclear program.

So one is the narrative they’re selling, the other is the truth.

ViatorOmnium@piefed.social on 11 Mar 06:10 collapse

I’m putting my money on the narrative that they clearly didn’t plan for and are still trying to figure out being the fake one.

floofloof@lemmy.ca on 11 Mar 07:25 collapse

The real narrative may have just been that Netanyahu has always wanted to destroy Iran and Trump was stupid and vain enough to be persuaded to do it for him. Since Trump can’t admit a mistake, he has to double down.

HootinNHollerin@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 11 Mar 04:26 next collapse

Trump kids first

BigMacHole@sopuli.xyz on 11 Mar 04:41 next collapse

I voted for Trump because I was tired of Wars and now I need to vote Trump AGAIN to Stop the War that Trump started To Protect the State of Pedophiles!

-Literally EVERYONE who Votes Republican!

alphacyberranger@sh.itjust.works on 11 Mar 04:47 next collapse

“Secure”

Corporal_Punishment@feddit.uk on 11 Mar 05:27 next collapse

Trump probably thinks Iran is a flat desert suitable for tanks, and not in fact surrounded by mountains.

MagnificentSteiner@lemmy.zip on 11 Mar 10:22 collapse

Right! Everytime I see something like this I wonder that people don’t realise the terrain around Tehran and the north-west. A ground invasion against Iran would make Afghanistan look like a picnic in comparison.

Doomsider@lemmy.world on 11 Mar 06:00 next collapse

Not even a weapon of mass destruction but a literal pile of radioactive metal that “could” be turned into a bomb.

This is about imaginary as you could possibly get. Truly war theatre for the masses that are apparently dumb enough to believe it.

ViatorOmnium@piefed.social on 11 Mar 06:08 next collapse

So, let me get this straight. The US and Israel started a war, allegedly, to stop the Iranian nuclear bomb project, without any actual plan on how to remove the nuclear programme assets?

floofloof@lemmy.ca on 11 Mar 07:21 collapse

Also, they boasted that their bombing of Iran last year had completely destroyed Iran’s nuclear program. And the experts say there never even was an Iranian nuclear bomb program worth the name.

Reiterate9120@lemmy.org on 11 Mar 06:44 next collapse

Hopefully every grunt from both countries that step foot in Iran never make it back out alive.

mlg@lemmy.world on 11 Mar 09:55 collapse

I feel like if Iran really wants nukes fast, they should just ship that uranium and some cash to NK to have it enriched to weapons grade.

Maybe exchange the missile technology for their warhead design too.

Cuz even though we already are highly aware the US is lying when they say it could be refined super easily in the middle of a war, any attempt to do so would immediately get noticed and promptly bombed.

Actually a funnier idea would be to place a bunch of fake inflatable enrichment cylinders in some random location in the mountains so that the US and Israel waste their muntions on a fake encirchment facility lol.

Not even to protect the real one, just to make them turn their attention away from everything else and bomb an empty mountain.