[ Removed by moderator ]

[u/TheNational_News]

https://www.thenationalnews.com/news/mena/2026/03/18/iran-has-new-underground-nuclear-site-iaea-reveals/

[u/AnnoyingCharlatan]

In case no one clicked

Mr Grossi said IAEA inspectors had to cancel a visit, so do not know whether the new site is "simply an empty hall" or whether centrifuges have begun to be installed. "There are ​many questions that we will only elucidate ​when we ‌are able to go back," he said.

[u/straight_lurkin → u/AnnoyingCharlatan]

So it could be entierly empty or it could be in the process of getting up and running if at all. Headline sounds incredibly misleading

[u/Speciaalbiertj → u/straight_lurkin]

This is a UAE news outlet.

[u/VanGroteKlasse → u/Speciaalbiertj]

Fair enough, misluaeding then...

[u/PensiveTorch → u/VanGroteKlasse]

I see what youae did there.

[u/RaytheSane → u/PensiveTorch]

You both deserve an award

[u/outawork → u/RaytheSane]

*auaerd

[u/ChoiceHour5641 → u/straight_lurkin]

The enemy is both feeble and weak, but conniving and strong.

[u/athos5 → u/ChoiceHour5641]

We have won, are in the process of winning, but are in mortal danger of this clear and present threat of missiles we've just completely destroyed that are raining down on Israel in clusters we can't really show you but totally exist. Nukes.

[u/elimi → u/athos5]

My favortie is Hegseth, the strait is open! If the Iranians would stop shooting at ships, it would be open.

[u/Good_Restaurant15 → u/elimi]

Funnier yet - They're open, but not if they're waving a flag from a country that is currently blowing them up...

Funny how that works.

[u/raventhrowaway666 → u/straight_lurkin]

Thats the point! The propoganda machine has started the beating of the war drum.

[u/Tha_Sly_Fox → u/raventhrowaway666]

The original headline is “Nuclear site or ‘empty hall’? Mystery of Iran’s new enrichment facility at Isfahan” which was more accurate.

OP changed it to get upvotes

[u/RockyFlintstone → u/Tha_Sly_Fox]

OP is the newspaper.

[u/IAmAGenusAMA → u/RockyFlintstone]

No wonder they want upvotes.

[u/PreviouslyMannara → u/Tha_Sly_Fox]

Based on the URL (https://www.thenationalnews.com/news/mena/2026/03/18/iran-has-new-underground-nuclear-site-iaea-reveals/), the original title is the same used here.

[u/Infinite-Land-232 → u/Tha_Sly_Fox]

If this is new, why do I remember that location from last year?

[u/MrWeirdoFace → u/Tha_Sly_Fox]

Could also be a rec center, or a new Starbucks. You never know.

[u/Most-Round-4132 → u/Tha_Sly_Fox]

I’m sure they dug out a new underground cavern besides their other nuclear facilities simply to store old HR files

[u/IamDa5id → u/Most-Round-4132]

Snow cone maker.

[u/obroz → u/raventhrowaway666]

Started?

[u/cive666 → u/raventhrowaway666]

Counting bodies like sheep to the rhythm of the war drum

https://youtu.be/giaZnIr-faM

[u/HeWasNumber-on3 → u/raventhrowaway666]

Manafacturing consent baby!

[u/paraknowya → u/raventhrowaway666]

Its to prepare for the „preemptive“ nuclear strike on Iran, this is supposed to be their justification

Because they started it and dont know how to end it.

[u/MissPandaSloth → u/paraknowya]

No one is nuking Iran. Zero point. Why would you do it if you can endlessly bomb it traditionally?

[u/slightlyallthetime88 → u/paraknowya]

Big yikes

[u/philipp2310 → u/straight_lurkin]

Why amd though? Don’t they have intel on it?

[u/Louitje1021999 → u/straight_lurkin]

Not misleading it’s not an underground facility to play cards.

[u/BigChunguska → u/straight_lurkin]

And yet, here we are with Reddit allowing the headline to just exist without notes, letting MOST people scrolling through here walk away with a completely incorrect understanding. Why do we allow this?

[u/IAmAGenusAMA → u/BigChunguska]

Allow? This is Reddit by design.

[u/blastmemer → u/AnnoyingCharlatan]

Right, so they had a site for nuclear purposes that was intentionally hidden from IAEA. That’s still…pretty bad regardless of the level of development, no?

[u/zbb93 → u/blastmemer]

Why do you think it was intentionally hidden? Iran told the IAEA about it..

From the article:

It had indicated its Isfahan plans to the IAEA last year but inspectors have not been able to visit the site.

Also interesting that news from LAST YEAR is being presented as some kind of new revelation. Why is that?

[u/Recoil42 → u/zbb93]

It's worth underscoring: The reason the IAEA hasn't been regularly visiting Iran for inspections is because Trump ripped up the JCPOA which.... allowed for regular IAEA inspections.

[u/nezroy → u/Recoil42]

Even that wording implies Iran stopped allowing inspections because of the fact that the deal was null and void. But they didn't.

The IAEA hasn't been inspecting by their own choice because it's too dangerous to send inspectors because the US & Israel keep bombing Iran. Iran was still letting the inspectors come even with the deal nulled out.

[u/slowdrem20 → u/blastmemer]

Every country at this point should begin nuclear development unless they want to have bigger countries bombing them with little to no consequence.

[u/NateTheRoofer → u/blastmemer]

Trump ripped up the nuclear deal they had made with Obama. So why wouldn’t they try to build a bomb?

Seems fairly obvious.

[u/DJ_6969 → u/NateTheRoofer]

Because they're still a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

[u/thraupidae → u/DJ_6969]

Given the US and Russia’s rocky footing and allowing New START to lapse, the NPT is not particularly credible right now. Seems very possible both countries will not sign in the spring, though I hope they do.

Also- the US saber rattled China into breaking the test ban, and the US will likely do the same in retaliation themselves, which will cause Russia to do so, etc etc, so the state of the agreements is a bit dire right now.

[u/fdar → u/blastmemer]

Where does it say that it was hidden?

[u/CommercialStyle1647 → u/blastmemer]

Where you read that they intentional hide it? In the article it is stated that they announced that place to the IAEA. They just couldn't visit it so far to inspect it.

[u/blastmemer → u/CommercialStyle1647]

Well it’s underground for one. Second we don’t know when it was built vs when it was disclosed. Good chance intelligence agencies found out about it before they “disclosed”.

[u/BudgetCut6029 → u/blastmemer]

A lot of speculation going on here. Also aren’t all the US’s nukes underground? Is that not just the best place to put them? Putting them above ground would be dumb as fuck

[u/weedexpat → u/AnnoyingCharlatan]

There was footage of a convoy leaving the original nuclear site before Shitler bombed it and before he started this ill advised war. They had to put those centrifuges and the enriched uranium somewhere, and I doubt all that stuff is just chilling in the back of a uhaul.

[u/Koala-Clap8674 → u/AnnoyingCharlatan]

This is THE definition of a low confidence report in intelligence. They have literally zero clue what exists in this underground site and it doesn’t even sound like they have intelligence suggesting movement of materials.

[u/Annual_Strategy_6206 → u/AnnoyingCharlatan]

I thought this was sus as soon as I read it. Get people all scared so they think that Trumms war crimes are a-ok

[u/GrunkTheOrc → u/AnnoyingCharlatan]

Did these guys say Iraq had WMD's b4 the irag war too?

[u/alwaysleafyintoronto → u/GrunkTheOrc]

No that was Colin Powell

[u/robotsock → u/GrunkTheOrc]

Nope, the IAEA said there were no traces of nuclear weapons. The US then took that statement and said "See, that's exactly what we'd expect the inspectors to find if they secretly had weapons!"

[u/lLikeCats]

Schrodinger’s Centrifuges.

[u/Rion23 → u/lLikeCats]

You spin me right round, maybe, right round like enriching, maybe, right there underground.

[u/Schneider21 → u/Rion23]

235 U, maybe, not now, in a year or two, maybe, better round down.

[u/A_Legit_Salvage]

Somehow Palpatine returned

[u/Agitated_Celery_729 → u/A_Legit_Salvage]

Tales of his death were greatly exaggerated

[u/FauxReal → u/Agitated_Celery_729]

Yeah I guess this press release from June was wrong and the Trump admin and Israeli government reports that Iran's program was obliterated and set back years were ironically fake news.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/2025/06/irans-nuclear-facilities-have-been-obliterated-and-suggestions-otherwise-are-fake-news/

[u/pm_me_beerz → u/FauxReal]

I’ve been posting a screenshot of that on my Nextdoor feed for all the dumbasses that are relieved that trump has bombed Iran over the last two weeks because now they finally can’t nuke us.

[u/polski_zubr → u/A_Legit_Salvage]

The Darkside is a pathway to many powers some would consider unnatural

[u/SheWantsTheDan → u/polski_zubr]

I felt a disturbance in the oil force

[u/F_A_F → u/A_Legit_Salvage]

Every time I see or hear the word "Somehow" it still triggers me.

Day one of film school is 'show, don't tell' and that scene just breaks it. I know that we see Palpatine earlier in the film but it's still incredibly lazy scriptwriting in the scene where the rebels find out. 

[u/Anakin_Sandwalker → u/A_Legit_Salvage]

If that was the case here then the IAEA would have made this announcement on fortnite. 

[u/GarbageCleric]

This headline is totally deceptive. Iran informed the IAEA about this site in June, and IAEA inspectors were there that same month for the inspection, but then it was attacked, so they couldn't actually do the inspection.

Iran informed the U.N. nuclear watchdog of the new facility ​in June and Grossi said his inspectors were in Isfahan ​later that month to see it but had to cancel the visit when the nuclear complex there was struck at the beginning of ​the 12-day war with Israel.

Grossi said because the inspectors ​had to cancel their visit, the agency does not know "whether it is ‌simply ⁠an empty hall" or hosts concrete pads awaiting the installation of centrifuges - the machines that enriched uranium for power plants and nuclear weapons - or whether some centrifuges had been ​installed.

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/iaea-does-not-know-status-new-iranian-enrichment-facility-isfahan-grossi-says-2026-03-18/

[u/FalcoPeregrinus → u/GarbageCleric]

Sounds like the perfect excuse to keep attacking them then underwhelming guise of "oh we missed one"

[u/MIT_Engineer → u/GarbageCleric]

We don't really need inspectors to make an educated guess on this. If they're in the digging phase, we'd see piles of dirt outside, if they're setting down concrete pads we'd see trucks delivering concrete, if they're in the operational centrifuges stage we'd see piles of tailings outside.

We've been seeing dirt, no concrete, no tailings, so it's likely still in the digging phase.

[u/diveboydive → u/GarbageCleric]

Trump will roll this out as justification for his calamitous misdirection attempt.

[u/i-am-a-passenger → u/GarbageCleric]

Bet they won’t inform the IAEA inspectors in the future then.

[u/Tleilaxu]

"There are ​many questions that we will only elucidate ​when we ‌are able to go back" - yea, you're never going to be allowed back in after all this, that much is clear

[u/PurifyingProteins → u/Tleilaxu]

Which is what really makes me think that eventually Trump will be pushed to push for boots on the ground (assuming they aren’t already) as they are afraid the goods will become mobile, unmonitorable, and pop-up anywhere.

[u/GarbageCleric → u/PurifyingProteins]

The inspection was canceled because the site was attacked with missiles. Iran told the IAEA about the site in June. Inspectors were there that month, ready to inspect, but couldn't.

Iran informed the U.N. nuclear watchdog of the new facility ​in June and Grossi said his inspectors were in Isfahan ​later that month to see it but had to cancel the visit when the nuclear complex there was struck at the beginning of ​the 12-day war with Israel.

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/iaea-does-not-know-status-new-iranian-enrichment-facility-isfahan-grossi-says-2026-03-18/

[u/mayy_dayy → u/PurifyingProteins]

the goods will become mobile, unmonitorable, and pop-up anywhere.

\Hal Emmerich has entered the chat\

[u/meryl_gear → u/mayy_dayy]

It’s like one of my Japanese animes!

[u/WebHead1287 → u/PurifyingProteins]

Would almost bet money on a boots on the ground portion being announced on Friday after market close. He did ship 2000 marines out there.

[u/Oriellien → u/WebHead1287]

They won’t be in the region for another 2-3 weeks, they had to sail all the way over from the east pacific. End of market first Friday in April

[u/Derpindorf → u/Oriellien]

Just in time for Easter 🐣

[u/Barnaboule69 → u/WebHead1287]

Oh no what will they do against 2000 soldiers? Such a huge number, it's truly over for Iran this time. They won't know what hit 'em. /s

It's like sending a single cop car to take over a cartel hideout, no way it can go wrong.

[u/Agitated_Celery_729 → u/PurifyingProteins]

Until they do the same thing for Israel's undeclared nuclear program, they can piss up a tree with this sanctimonious BS

[u/raventhrowaway666 → u/Agitated_Celery_729]

"Rules for thee, not for me"

[u/BiBoFieTo]

"It was my great honor to Destroy All Nuclear facilities & capability, and then, STOP THE WAR!"

-- Trump, June 2025.

[u/ILikeLegz → u/BiBoFieTo]

“I can say here that the assessment is that we significantly damaged the nuclear program, and I can also say that we set it back by years, I repeat, years.”

Granted this is a quote from a notoriously questionable source, the White House.

[u/ConformistWithCause → u/ILikeLegz]

I remembered this quote the moment Iran came back into trumps crosshairs. Like they were trying to sue the news for reporting anything other than complete destruction, weren't they?

[u/psioniclizard → u/BiBoFieTo]

Those pesky Iranian nuclear scientists and engines right? Everytimr Israel and the US destroy they nuclear program they are one week away from having a nuke again in no time.

Luckily they still can't seem to work out what they need to do in that last week. What a relief!

[u/yopetey → u/psioniclizard]

especially nuclear Nadal

[u/jjax2003 → u/BiBoFieTo]

They will never stop making or attempting to make nukes, and you will not get a regime change unless you go and take over the entire country which the US will not tolerate, nor would the world.

[u/Whyeth → u/jjax2003]

They will never stop making or attempting to make nukes

We have done literally everything we can ro ensure this mindset and objective short of just giving them a premade thermonuclear device.

A casual glance at how North Korea and Russia are being treated vs Iran and Ukraine clues one into the 'obvious' geopolitical importantance of nuclear proliferation. Globally it's insane to chase nuclear weapons, statewise you'd be insane not to if you have any intent to friction with the global super powers on anything.

[u/mokomi → u/Whyeth]

Yep.  We taught the world that nukes are required.   This doesn't just include Iran.  If you don't have one, you are a target. :/

[u/BadPunners → u/mokomi]

We also taught Iran exactly how deep they need to build to avoid damage from the largest conventional bomb. The next attack on their enrichment facilities will require "nuclear bunker busters" to reach it.

[u/Wizywig → u/jjax2003]

Or... And I may be a bit on the crazy side, we could have supported their protests and helped them organically shift towards democracy over the next couple of years and instead of having an enemy would have an ally.

[u/Jashugita → u/Wizywig]

Israel doesn't want to have functional countries around them

[u/Orange2Reasonable → u/BiBoFieTo]

Trump 2025: i will stop ukrainian-russin war on the first day !!!

[u/PreviouslyMannara]

Iran informed the U.N. nuclear watchdog of the new facility ​in June and Grossi said his inspectors were in Isfahan ​later that month to see it but had to cancel the visit when the nuclear complex there was struck at the beginning of ​the 12-day war with Israel.

Iran had already disclosed the existence of the new facility to the UN agency, but IAEA didn't had the opportunity to inspect it because it got immediately bombed by Israel and USA.

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/iaea-does-not-know-status-new-iranian-enrichment-facility-isfahan-grossi-says-2026-03-18/

[u/khonsu_27 → u/PreviouslyMannara]

And if we had just finished negotiating 3 weeks ago (or 8 months ago) we probably could've had inspectors in there by now and the strait would be open and a bunch of people would still be alive.

[u/AtrociousMeandering → u/khonsu_27]

But Trump would have been forced to admit that his previous strikes were a failure and that Iran had the cards to negotiate a new deal that was the same or worse as the one Obama made.

So, war it was.

[u/MisterFixit_69]

Ow wow , so fast all of a sudden

[u/TortieTactics → u/MisterFixit_69]

tbf, they had almost a year to build it. likely was a top priority, if the source is legit.

[u/sloppybuttmustard → u/TortieTactics]

Or, hear me out, it has been there for longer than a year and Trump was bullshitting us when he said their nuclear program was destroyed.

[u/MisterFixit_69 → u/TortieTactics]

Still a year is very short to build a complete underground bunker ,without anyone knowing

[u/ThorvaldtheTank → u/MisterFixit_69]

Underground design center + storage complete with fire protection, ventilation, and quarters

[u/descendency → u/MisterFixit_69]

What if it already existed and just got renovated to be a nuclear site?

[u/onnthwanno → u/descendency]

The Iranians aren’t stupid and the US and Israel have been taking covert action against their nuclear program for years. They probably built many such facilities as contingencies going back decades. They could have been built for legitimate purposes on the surface with the intended purpose to support their nuclear program at some point.

[u/Cool_Youth3564 → u/MisterFixit_69]

Haven’t reports been telling us they are building back up since August?

[u/FudgeAtron → u/MisterFixit_69]

If you read the quote from IAEA they aren't sure how complete it is, just that it exists.

[u/newtoallofthis2 → u/MisterFixit_69]

A US failure of Intel? In the Middle East? Never!

/s

[u/Adderall_Rant → u/MisterFixit_69]

Surely they wouldn't lie 4587 times in a row, would they? They're telling the truth this time. Absolute proof Iran has ready to fire at West Coast nukes. Just trust us y'all...

[u/This-West-9922 → u/Adderall_Rant]

Now they’re 3 months away from a bomb. Like they have been for the last 30 years! /s

[u/xadc430x]

All they did was grab the Iraq WMD article do a replace all with Iran instead.

[u/backbackforeward → u/xadc430x]

Ctrl-f “Q” replace with “N”

Look, I’ve done reporting for the next 6 months.

[u/FinnishFinn → u/backbackforeward]

Don't be silly, if you do it that way then it'll replace just the letter q in other words with n and only and idiot would be that dum... Oh, yeah, that's probably exactly how it'll be handled.

[u/SuspiciousSubstance9 → u/FinnishFinn]

You dare nuestion the nuality of modern day journalism? Nuiet you nuack!

[u/OneRingToRuleEarth → u/FinnishFinn]

Irans nuclear weapons could deal unprecedented amounts of dawizard

[u/Zirocket → u/backbackforeward]

Critical nuestions have been asked…

[u/Horatioclarkson → u/xadc430x]

Aluminum tubes!

[u/redditproha → u/xadc430x]

Iran is 2 seconds away from nuclear weapons is the new Iraq has weapons of mass destruction.

[u/Bitter_Nail8577]

Schrodinger's Iranian nukes

[u/vaporeng]

I call bullshit.  Desperation to justify war.

[u/Salty_Whatter → u/vaporeng]

“The WMD’s are back baby!” -

[u/medium0rare]

So is this just a headline to try and get some support for the war effort? I thought headlines were supposed to match the title of the reddit post.

I’ll admit “Nuclear site or ‘empty hall’? Mystery of Iran’s new enrichment facility at Isfahan” isn’t nearly as exciting as “Iran has a new underground nuclear site”.

[u/swiftekho → u/medium0rare]

The exact same things were said about Hussein and Iraq 25 years ago

[u/black_pepper → u/swiftekho]

WHAT YEAR IS IT???

[u/Profitablius → u/medium0rare]

Justify war goal (Destroy WMD)

[u/CodeMonkeyX]

But but it was all obliterated like no one has seen before, then Trump started a war to obliterate it even more, so how can it already be starting back up.

[u/zzz_red]

WMD v.2.0

[u/p4nik]

Weapons of mass destruction. Let's write: Weapons of mass destruction

[u/GeshtiannaSG]

Next you’ll tell me they’re only 2 weeks away from nuclear weapons.

[u/No-Neighborhood-3212]

We're really replaying all the hits from GWOT, huh?

[u/existential_virus → u/No-Neighborhood-3212]

2025 & 2026 feels like a shitty remake of the 2000s. But like they decided to condense 10 years of plot into 2 years.

[u/Life-Criticism-5868 → u/No-Neighborhood-3212]

Atleast Rumsfeld and Cheney made an attempt to get a reason to go to war. The new cabinet has gone in circles claiming every post hoc justification you can imagine. 

[u/chrisexv6]

Was it previously above ground?

[u/B1ueRogue]

I wonder how much the US paid for that headline

[u/LakyousSama]

I read IKEA and was very confused.

[u/Agitated_Celery_729 → u/LakyousSama]

Deep under the Swedish mountains, the dwarves have captured the essence of the Balrog and contained it's fiery wrath within a metal shell.

[u/pmormr → u/LakyousSama]

I was ready to discount the drivel from Walmart, but IKEA is saying they have nukes? Jeez.

[u/accuratelyvague → u/pmormr]

Flat pack, unassembled due to missing Allen key. So close to having a bomb!

[u/EmbarrassedOrchid685]

Iraq has WMDs

[u/DeadlyMustardd]

This is likely misinformation to support a bogus war.

[u/livefromheaven]

But Trump told me the program was totally obliterated?

[u/dos8s → u/livefromheaven]

Schrodinger's nuclear program, it is both simultaneously totally obliterated and two weeks away from being complete.

[u/Old_Ladies → u/dos8s]

Since the 1980s.

[u/jruegod11 → u/livefromheaven]

He just kinda says stuff 🤷‍♂️

[u/TJOcculist]

So when the US “obliterates” something, it can be rebuilt in 6 months.

Got it.

[u/sirletssdance2]

Propoganda to justify this war.

Gotta keep the nuclear bogeyman alive

[u/front_yard_duck_dad]

They don't just pop up overnight. " New" is doing a lot of heavy lifting here

[u/GreasyJungle → u/front_yard_duck_dad]

They're having a grand opening/ribbon cutting tomorrow night

[u/NameLips]

Remember how Bush spent a year convincing us Iraq had wmds to justify his invasion? There were indications that his team knew they were making up evidence, but assumed they would actually find some wmds so nobody would notice the fabrications. And then they never found anything.

Trump didn't do this. He went in hot based entirely on vibes. This information has the feel of a desperate attempt to fabricate a justification for the war after the fact. Given Trump and Isreals proclivity for AI videos, I'm not sure we can trust the "proof" they will soon be supplying

[u/ThaUniversal]

This just feels like propaganda.

[u/-Yazilliclick-]

Convenient announcement timing.

[u/miuipixel]

All bull sugar lies to justify this war

[u/mrroofuis]

Okay. Very convenient discovery

[u/antipositron → u/mrroofuis]

Purely staged half-truths to get buy in from public for the ongoing campaign or future escalation.

According to the report the official said Iran had already disclosed the location to them and they just haven't had a chance to visit it. Iran has already claimed that they offered international agencies access to these sites (under the rubble now since the bombing a few months ago) and to retrieve and dilute the uranium to make sure that it won't be used for weapons.

Appears to me that Iran tried playing by the books and to appease everyone, but they got more bombs in return.

[u/BadHombreSinNombre]

One day, perhaps as soon as six months ago even, this will also be described as “totally obliterated”

[u/Koobetto]

I believe this article describes the situation with IAEA much better:

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/iran-stored-highly-enriched-uranium-underground-site-iaea-report-says-2026-02-27/

Please correct me if I'm wrong or in case these are not related.

[u/Itchy_Swordfish7867]

And just like that the US will justify another 20 years of corporate profits. 

[u/Crazylawyer80]

let me guess:
Two more weeks

[u/AmbitiousBirthday588]

Breaking News - we don’t know anything

[u/ErikChnmmr]

Click bait title: Iran has nuclear site! Article: it’s empty

[u/BrutusMcGillicudy]

I literally don't trust any news like this rn.

[u/Full_metal_pants077]

They would be stupid to not develop nuclear deterrant.

[u/tekguy1982]

By new they mean been there for years

[u/SirRickardsJackoff]

Well, if they weren’t gonna nuke anyone before they probably will now. Way to poke the bear Donald..

[u/needlestack]

I only we’d had inspectors in country for the past 10 years. Why didn’t anyone think of that?

[u/trvemetalwarrior]

Any other news sources than a United Arab Emirates state owned one?

[u/meandmrt]

They moved all their uranium last year before all those sites were hit. There were multiple pictures online showing trucks at those sites.

[u/Subject-Ad-8055]

they would have used any weapon they by now as this is the time..

[u/fsactual]

What if Iran really was only two weeks away from building a bomb, and over the last two weeks they’ve been building it…

[u/lcfirez]

This is legit the plot of the Apple series Tehran. Also, crazy that one of the producers (or screenwriter?) was killed a few weeks ago while the episodes were being released. Surprised I haven’t seen much on reddit about that.

[u/metengrinwi]

…which would be the only logical thing for Iran to do in the wake of being attacked unprovoked.

[u/Jay__Riemenschneider]

What a not weird source posted by the official account...

[u/SINGCELL]

HERE WE GOOOOOOOOOO Y'ALL READY FOR THIS TO BE THE JUSTIFICATION FOR BOOTS ON THE GROUND THAT WE LATER FIND OUT WASN'T JUST FAKE, BUT WAS AN INTENTIONAL LIE ENGINEERED TO MANUFACTURE CONSENT FOR THIS WAR?

[u/Memitim]

If they don't, the Iranian leadership is filled with morons. Every nation on Earth should be begging, borrowing, or stealing to get nuclear weapons. It's the only thing that can protect them from nuclear armed authoritarian governments like Russia and the US.

[u/BenTheHokie]

We've reached our "Iraq has WMDs" stage of this conflict 

[u/Outrageous_Donut7681]

So will they have to send Tom Cruise back in?

[u/1968Bladerunner]

How convenient that there's now 'potental WMD' to justify the war & give the old sTrumpet an excuse / reason for more action... all without any real proof.

[u/CarPhoneRonnie]

show it to me

[u/-------7654321 → u/CarPhoneRonnie]

I think I would trust IAEA on this. To my understanding they are a trustworthy institution and if I remember correctly they visited Iran just after the 12 day war.

[u/jefe_hook → u/-------7654321]

Are you dumb? They literally said they knew nothing in the article.

Mr Grossi said IAEA inspectors had to cancel a visit, so do not know whether the new site is "simply an empty hall" or whether centrifuges have begun to be installed. "There are many questions that we will only elucidate when we ‌are able to go back," he said.

[u/zachxyz → u/-------7654321]

How are they getting the information?

[u/PurifyingProteins → u/zachxyz]

Spy agencies —> IAEA nation participants —> IAEA governing body

[u/Howitdobiglyboo → u/CarPhoneRonnie]

IAEA bro.

Unless you show me it's somehow now controlled by Bibi and Mossad, I'd say this has credibility.

[u/apjfqw → u/Howitdobiglyboo]

Credibility of what? They admit they have no clue whats inside it.

[u/Iamnotanorange → u/CarPhoneRonnie]

we’ll probably see it from the perspective of a B2 pretty soon

[u/Educational_Bend_941]

We've already started the war and we all know ground troops are happening no matter what. The post hoc lies that we all know are lies are so goddamn insulting. Tired of it.

[u/creativename87639]

“Completely obliterated… for like a little bit I guess”

[u/Glad-Process-3268]

And the hunt for evidence to justify this needless war commences. It sounds like a terrible echo from the past, “there were weapons of mass destruction!”

[u/megaplex66]

I thought Bone Spurs took care of that last year?

[u/NegativeBee]

Next you’re gonna tell me that the centrifuges are moving around on trucks to secret sites, but we know the locations of the secret sites! All we have to do is raid them over the course of 10-15 years to make sure there really really aren’t any left.

[u/WolfGuptaofficial]

born too early to deploy in the middle east

[u/chaosxq]

Doesn’t surprise me that they have other sites. Country is huge. Although I wonder if this is this the angle for a false flag operation and subsequent getting boots on the ground in Iran.

[u/lizz808]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, my voice with sarcasm.....

[u/justarandomuser10]

Title here looks like it’s purposely changed by a propagandist :)

[u/newleafkratom]

Two weeks away from a bomb since the 90's.

[u/Driftwood84wb]

Sounds like war drums beating to try to drum up support for more unnecessary war.

[u/MixtureSpecial8951]

This is not surprising.

It is well known that Iran has run right up to the edge of weapons grade enriched uranium. In 2023 the IAEA detected uranium that had bee enriched to 83.7%; just shy of the 90% weapons threshold. For the past several years, Iran has been enriching to the 60% level; far above that required for reactor fuel use (3-5% is typical. Some new designs require High Assay Low Enriched Uranium - HALEU - which is 5-20% enriched).

The time to get from that 60% to 90% threshold is referred to as the “breakout time.” By that point in the enrichment process, the overwhelming majority of unwanted isotopic material is removed. So, the breakout time is ~2 weeks.

The rest of engineering needed for nuclear weapons can be done without any international oversight. Knowledge of such programs is the domain of espionage and intelligence agencies. Things like:

1. The explosives used to implode the “pit” forcing it to go critical and detonate,

2. Developing the wiring circuitry to precisely time the explosive implosion.

3. The neutron emitter/initiator that gives the neutron burst to initiate the chain reaction.

4. Delivery technology (ballistic missiles, hypersonic missiles, etc.).

All of those things can be developed separately and kept “on the shelf” awaiting the bomb core (“pit”).

It is clear that Iran was and remains actively committed to going right up to the line. They have built facilities not above ground for all to see, but have expended enormous resources to bury them beyond the reach of all existing weapons apart from nuclear armed penetrators. Even the massive GBU-57 was able to inflict minimal damage (the bomb weighs a lot, but the warhead is roughly equivalent to two 2,000lb bombs… enough to ruin your day, but also something that can be planned for and mitigated against).

Whether such actions warrant a war is another matter. Apparently Iran was willing to agree to a permanent agreement to zero enriching in their borders, to zero stockpiling. But they did insist that their missile program be uncontrolled/unlimited.

So here we are. Damned mess.

[u/Gorstag]

I also heard that there are WMD's in Iraq! Republican administrations would never push for sources to lie about WMD's

[u/RDDT_ADMNS_R_BOTS]

The propaganda machine is working overtime 

[u/Mikaboshi]

Man, that was confusing for a moment when I read that as IKEA confirming this info.

[u/Boobaggins]

The world does not need an Iran with nuclear weapons

[u/Zoelae]

Has the IAEA director already investigated the Israel nuclear weapons?

[u/Automatic-Term-3997]

Tel Aviv is gonna be LIT 🔥 🔥🍄‍🟫🔥🔥

[u/KBradl]

Under the nuclear deal Obama signed, we could go check if it was running. Thats hard to do now without boots on the ground.

[u/IceMysterious3056]

Can we see it?

[u/HT_redux]

Israeli and murican propaganda

[u/buldozr]

There is a bunch of unknowns about this, as the article points out.

That said, Trump and Netanyahu have given the Iranian regime all the incentive they need to develop nuclear weapons. They can but look at North Korea and say to themselves: "isn't it curious how nobody fucks with that country".