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Trump has bombed Iran's nuclear sites, using B2 bombers dropping 30,000-pound massive ordinance penetrators. All aircraft have successfully cleared Iranian airspace, and Trump is claiming that all three nuclear sites were wiped out. No word that I've seen of a counter-attack from Iran, as yet.
AOC has concluded that a president ordering an airstrike without congressional approval is grounds for impeachment. Fetterman thinks it was the right move. Both are, I suppose, on brand.
My feelings are mixed. I absolutely do not want us signing up for another two decades of invading and inviting the middle east, and of all the places I'd pick with a gun to my head, Iran would be dead last. I do not think our military is prepared for a serious conflict at the moment, because I think there's a pretty good likelihood that a lot of our equipment became suddenly obsolete two or three years ago, and also because I'm beginning to strongly suspect that World War 3 has already started and we've all just just been a bit slow catching on. That said, I am really not a fan of Iran, and while I could be persuaded to gamble on Iran actually acquiring nukes, it's still a hell of a gamble, and the Israelis wiping Iran's air defense grid made this about the cheapest alternative imaginable. I have zero confidence that diplomacy was ever going to work; it's pretty clear to me that Iran wanted nukes, and that in the best case this would result in considerable proliferation and upheaval. Now, assuming the strikes worked, that issue appears to be off the table for the short and medium terms. That... seems like a good thing? Maybe?
I'm hoping what appears to me to be fairly intense pressure to avoid an actual invasion keeps American boots of Iranian soil. As with zorching an Iranian general in Iraq during Trump's first term, this seems like a fairly reasonable gamble, but if we get another forever war out of this, that would be unmitigated disaster.
Iran originally decided to pursue 60% enrichment after Israel attacked their nuclear sites in 2021. This attack happened 3 years after Trump ended an agreement to inspect Iranian nuclear sites, which was criticized by NATO, EU, France, the UK, etc, but was clearly requested by Trump’s Zionist funders. Iran’s radiopharmaceutical industry is genuine — they commercialize isotopes that only Germany has been able to produce. Iran needs to pursue its own cancer treatments because sanctions prevent access to state of the art treatments.
I hope Iran gets a nuke now. We can’t have religious extremist states have nukes — Israel is well on its way in becoming majority Haredi, whereas Iran is on a clear secularization path. A nuclear Iran would counter the power that Israel exerts in the region and may even prevent the genocide of Palestinians.
The reason Westerners see an Iranian nuke as a lynchpin is because if Iran proves it has nuclear weapons, then Turkey and Saudi Arabia will quickly also get nuclear weapons and essentially the NPT will fall apart; however, given the US attacked IAEA inspected sites in direct violation of the treaty, I believe they've hastened its demise anyway.
Iran was already in violation of the treaty. IAEA report to this effect is what prompted the Isreali air campaign in the first place.
'You don't have a sufficient explanation for a radioactive aluminum ring from the year 2003 which we've brought up 74x therefore you're in violation of your obligations under the safeguards agreement from 1974 w/re to the NPT and we cannot verify your nuclear program is for peaceful purposes' isn't really in the same category of violation as 'NPT member-state attacks IAEA inspected facility in another NPT member-state almost certainly using information gained from the IAEA inspectors themselves.'
One is the sort of violations you could likely find in any NPT member-state if they were subjected to 1/10th the harassment and silliness Iran has dealt with for decades and the other is a serious and meaningful violation of the NPT's explicit language.
The vast majority of the report is many years old which makes the conclusion now rather puzzling. The actual impetus appears to be the stockpile of 60% enriched uranium, but 60% enriched uranium isn't itself a violation of the NPT.
Not to mention how the report and the ensuing aftermath quickly revealed the IAEA is full of hostile spies which coordinate and communicate with non-member states who have secret nuclear programs.
Israel isn't a NPT member state.
With modern centrifuges that's a few days away from material for efficient uranium bombs.
60% enriched uranium isn't itself a violation of the NPT
the United States is
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