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Daily Mail
21 hours ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Opinion: Iran's 'missing' uranium and the plan to hide it
More than five days after President Donald Trump ordered unprecedented US strikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities, Americans are just now starting to receive the first sober analysis of the attacks. Though the assessments are not coming from the US government and, especially, not from the mainstream American media. Over the past few days, many in the press have been chasing their tails over a classified Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) report, which was disgracefully leaked by someone inside the Pentagon , Congress , or the US intel community. Such a preliminary report, probably based primarily on satellite imagery and geospatial analysis, is considered a 'low confidence' assessment, for no one can determine with any high degree of certainty the status of a clandestine nuclear facility buried deep underground from images taken from outer space. Indeed, the IAEC is an Israeli government authority, but the IAEC has every incentive to understate, not overstate, the impact of the US strikes on the underground uranium enrichment plant at Fordow – the crown jewel of the Iranian nuclear program. Their findings are supported by other Israeli intelligence agencies. Surely, the Israelis would be the first to advocate for additional strikes against Iranian nuclear targets if they believed a threat still existed. Logically, if they exaggerated the damage caused by the US attacks that would undermine their predicate for attacking Iran in the future to destroy any additional capabilities or nuclear weapons scientists. But according to the IAEC, the job is done. 'The devastating US strike on Fordow destroyed the site's critical infrastructure and rendered the enrichment facility inoperable,' read an IAEC statement released Wednesday. 'We assess that the American strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities, combined with Israeli strikes on other elements of Iran's military nuclear program, has set back Iran's ability to develop nuclear weapons by many years.' That Israeli assessment, however, comes with a caveat. The IAEC noted that the devastation of the Iranian nuke program can 'continue indefinitely' if Iran 'does not get access to nuclear material.' If Tehran was stashing enriched uranium outside of the facilities at Fordow or Natanz, which were both hit by American GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator bunker buster bombs , then they may have the ability to reconstitute their program, which brings us to the latest nuclear red herring. Some in the media are raising alarm over publicly available satellite imagery that shows a line of cargo trucks parked outside Fordow in the days before the US strikes. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was pressed on this during a Pentagon news conference on Thursday. 'We're looking at all aspects of intelligence and making sure we have a sense of what was where,' he said. I'm certain that both the US and Israeli intel have been looking into this. But I have serious doubts that the Iranians would have moved nuclear material out of Fordow in the days before the strike. It's possible but it is far more likely that they were moving enrichment uranium or centrifuge parts into the heavily fortified mountain fortress. The Iranians, fearing additional Israeli attacks, would most likely have transferred any valuable materials into Fordow, knowing that the Israelis lacked the bombs capable of penetrating the rock shield around the facility and doubting that Trump would order a strike. Additionally, Tehran is well aware that Israel and the US have intelligence dominance over their entire country and would be closely monitoring the comings and goings at Fordow. Would the Iranians really have risked loading enrichment uranium into trucks only for them to be tracked and destroyed by their enemies? The idea strains credulity. Finally, it would be a massive, unimaginable intelligence failure by Israel and the US, after demonstrating extraordinary and exquisite operational skills, to simply forget to monitor a line of cargo trucks leaving Fordow. With that said, the Iranians were likely storing at least some enriched material in locations not destroyed in recent strikes. The third Iranian nuclear facility targeted in the US attack was the Isfahan site, which was hit by Tomahawk missiles, likely leaving deep tunnels intact. If material was kept there, it may still be there. That is why it is now critically important for the US to demand that Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei agree to full, transparent and verifiable nuclear disarmament as part of any ceasefire agreement. And no deal would be worth the paper that it is printed on without the threat of American and Israeli military might to enforce it. There's got to be a clear signal from President Trump that any indication that the Iranians are moving materials or rebuilding or hiding weaponization activities will result in an overwhelming US response. And if the US is not prepared to strike again, they need to give the Israelis the green light act and threaten the regime that any retaliation against Israel carries the risk of a US military response.
India Today
a day ago
- Politics
- India Today
How a country that helped Israel get nuclear weapons junked its own nukes
It began with a rescinded invite. In 1955, Israel was all set to attend the Bandung Conference in Indonesia, a landmark summit of newly independent Asian and African nations, which would be the beginning of the India-propelled Non-Aligned Movement. The invitation was quietly withdrawn after then Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, under pressure from Egypt, Pakistan, and other Arab states, snapped his support. Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion was Bandung moment marked more than just a diplomatic slight. It exposed newly formed Israel's isolation in the postcolonial world, a world increasingly shaped by Third World solidarity and Arab-led opposition to Zionism. Rejected by India, shut out of African-Asian unity, and encircled by hostile neighbours, Israel pivoted west and south. Its search for allies would lead to a shadowy and strategic nuclear partnership with an unlikely friend: apartheid South Israel had technology, South Africa had uranium. And for a brief period in Cold War history, both had the same goal: survival. South Africa wasn't the only or the first country that Israel clandestinely cooperated with for nuclear weapons. It was France that supported Israel's nuclear programme first. However, the cooperation with South Africa – in the 1970s – is interesting because the country went on to junk its nuclear weapons while Israel emerged as an undeclared nuclear nuclear programme is an interesting study against the backdrop of its 12-day war with Iran, which was triggered after the Jewish nation targeted Iranian nuclear sites. Israel faces existential threats from the regime of Ayatollah Khamenei, and has worked for decades to deny Iran nuclear also stands out among the nuclear powers because it never conducted a nuclear test at home. That's where the South African collaboration comes in. The "Double Flash" of 1979, detected by the US off South Africa, was suspected to have Israeli participation and had all the hallmarks of a nuclear CRISIS AND THE BIRTH OF ISRAEL'S NUCLEAR PROGRAMMEThe Double Flash must have been a sign of the maturing of Israel's nuclear programme, because its N-programme is almost as old as the country PM Ben-Gurion, nuclear capability was not just a defence priority, it was a moral and existential by the Holocaust and aware of Israel's precarious position in a hostile region, he saw atomic power as a safeguard against complete annihilation, writes Sasha Polakow-Suransky in The Unspoken Alliance: Israel's Secret Relationship with Apartheid South in 1952, the Israel Atomic Energy Commission (IAEC) was led by Ernst David Bergmann, who declared that a nuclear bomb would ensure Jews were "never again led as lambs to the slaughter", reflecting the post-Holocaust drive for strategic IAEC was set in secret and began quietly scouting for uranium. It recruited Jewish scientists from abroad, forged academic ties, and laid the technical and ideological groundwork for its nuclear it was the 1956 Suez Crisis that turned Israel's ambition into grateful for Israel's role in the joint invasion of Egypt, became a crucial partner, not just diplomatically, but technologically, writes Polakow-Suransky in his FRANCE PASSED ON NUCLEAR KNOW-HOW TO ISRAELIn a secret agreement, France provided Israel with the nuclear know-how, materials, and equipment necessary to build a reactor. French engineers helped design and construct the facility at Dimona in the Negev Desert, officially a research centre, but one that housed a hidden underground plutonium reprocessing plant, according to a report by The began in 1958, shrouded in secrecy even within France's own atomic agency. The assistance included reactor blueprints, uranium fuel, and a separate heavy water supply routed via adopted a policy of nuclear opacity, amimut, refusing to confirm or deny its was the same time that US inspectors were allowed into Dimona, but the visits were choreographed. Lead inspector Floyd Culler reported fresh plaster on the walls that later turned out to conceal elevator shafts to the secret reprocessing facility, The Guardian report growing American suspicions, US pressure waned under President Richard Nixon. In 1969, Israeli PM Golda Meir and US President Richard Nixon agreed upon silence on Israel's nuclear status. In 1969, Nixon and Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir struck a quiet understanding: no public nuclear tests or declarations from Israel, and no pressure from Washington to sign the Non-Proliferation the time of the 1967 Six-Day War, Israel had assembled two or three crude nuclear devices, ready as a last resort. They were never used, but the nuclear threshold had already been crossed, silently, ISRAEL, APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA TEAMED UPIn the 1960s and 70s, Israel and apartheid South Africa had a secretive but powerful vastly different in identity, one a Jewish state born from the ashes of genocide, the other a white supremacist regime enforcing racial domination. As traditional allies distanced themselves, the two turned toward each military prowess, especially its swift victory in the 1967 Six-Day War, impressed South African leaders. When France, after a change in leadership, imposed an arms embargo on Israel after 1967, Pretoria stepped in with spare parts for Mirage fighter and South Africa were united by a sense of siege, strategic necessity, and deepening global isolation. One of their earliest connections was had the technology but lacked uranium. South Africa had uranium but lacked the technical 1962, South Africa sent Israel 10 tons of yellowcake uranium. By 1965, this flow was formalised in a deal that dodged international the decade, South Africa helped Israel quietly amass 500 tons of uranium. In return, Pretoria gained access to Israeli nuclear know-how. Officially, both insisted their nuclear programmes were peaceful, but in secret, each pursued Yom Kippur War in 1973 marked a decisive shift: while 20 African nations severed relations with Israel, South Africa extended 1974, South Africa even tested a basic nuclear device, likely with Israeli then, Pelindaba had become South Africa's main nuclear research centre. Its adjacent Y-Plant at Valindaba, built with covert assistance and drawing on earlier Israeli collaboration, began producing weapons-grade uranium by 1978. The enriched uranium was used to assemble six nuclear bombs by the mid-1980s. Koeberg Nuclear Power Station, located near Cape Town, began construction in 1976 and became operational in 1984. (Image: AFP) DID ISRAEL OFFER WARHEADS, MISSILE TO SOUTH AFRICA?In 1975, Israeli Defence Minister Shimon Peres met secretly in Zurich with South African Defence Minister PW meeting suggested a far deeper level of trust between the two Africa, under growing international pressure and eager to secure a nuclear deterrent of its own, sought to purchase Israeli Jericho missiles, which were believed to be capable of carrying nuclear warheads, according to a report by The South African documents later revealed that Peres had hinted the "correct payload" could be made available "in three sizes", a phrase widely interpreted as a veiled offer of nuclear warheads.A memo by senior official RF Armstrong confirmed Pretoria's belief that this was a nuclear offer, and a draft agreement was drawn up, complete with a clause stating it must never be disclosed under any the deal fell through. The exact reasons remain uncertain: the cost may have been too steep, or Israeli leaders may have feared the international consequences if the deal ever came to light. Peres would later deny offering nuclear the Zurich meeting remains striking. Even without a final handshake, it showed how two pariah states—bound by secrecy, ambition, and fear—were willing to step into the shadows of nuclear SATELLITE DETECTED MYSTERIOUS DOUBLE FLASHOn 22 September 1979, the US Vela 6911 satellite detected a mysterious double flash over the South Atlantic near South Africa, widely seen as a nuclear test signature. No country claimed responsibility, but suspicion quickly fell on apartheid South Africa and Israel.A US enquiry led by physicist Jack Ruina concluded the flash might have been natural or a sensor glitch, but many intelligence officials and independent experts disagreed. CIA analysts believed it was likely a covert joint test by Israel and South documents suggest both had motive and Africa had a working bomb design; Israel, already nuclear-capable, had never officially tested it. Their past nuclear cooperation, South African naval presence in the area, and perfect weather conditions only deepened never confirmed, the Vela Incident is widely viewed as evidence of secret nuclear collaboration between two isolated regimes operating far from global SOUTH AFRICA GAVE UP NUCLEAR WEAPONSSouth Africa's decision to dismantle its nuclear programme and sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in 1991 was not just historic, it was layered with strategic calculation, moral posturing, and political was the only instance in which a state developed nuclear weapons independently, then gave them up entirely, voluntarily, and transparently, writes Sasha Polakow-Suransky in his Ukraine too gave up its nuclear stockpile as a barter for independence, those were Soviet-era weapons and not Africa's arsenal, six fully built bombs and a seventh under construction, had been assembled during the height of apartheid, amid fears of Soviet expansion, Cuban involvement in Angola, and domestic insurgency. For the white minority government, nuclear weapons were never meant for battlefield use; they were strategic bargaining chips, meant to signal strength and deter external by the late 1980s, with the Cold War winding down and the apartheid regime losing legitimacy, the weapons began to look less like protection and more like a political was also a deep anxiety within the ruling elite about the future: what if these weapons fell into the hands of the African National Congress (ANC) after the democratic transition? Dismantling the programme before handing over power allowed the apartheid government to retain control over the legacy of the weapons, and perhaps even rewrite its final chapter on its own pressure played its part too. South Africa was still under economic and military sanctions, and rejoining the global economy required a clean break from the secrecy and militarism of the 1991, it became a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). By 1993, President FW de Klerk confirmed what had long been rumoured -- that South Africa had nukes. Klerk also declared that the country didn't have any took no such step and operates the Dimona reactor, built in the desert with French help. The Jewish nation is believed to possess at least 90 nuclear warheads, with stockpiles of fissile material sufficient to build many from the Centre for Arms Control and Nonproliferation and the Nuclear Threat Initiative suggest the true arsenal could even be far larger than publicly Africa, which collaborated with Israel, gave up its nuclear weapons while the Jewish nation holds on to them. For a period in history, their secret pact, one with uranium, the other with know-how, helped shape one of the world's most opaque nuclear programmes.- EndsTune InTrending Reel
Saudi Gazette
a day ago
- Politics
- Saudi Gazette
Iran's uranium stocks said to be intact, UK media says citing European intelligence probe
LONDON — Iran's stockpile of highly enriched uranium is believed to be largely intact following US strikes on the country's main nuclear sites, the Financial Times reported on Thursday, citing European officials. The newspaper, citing two people briefed on preliminary intelligence assessments, said European capitals believe Iran's stockpile of 408 kilograms of uranium enriched close to weapons-grade levels was not being held in Fordow and may have been moved prior to US strikes on Sunday. Claims that uranium was moved from any of Iran's nuclear sites were dismissed by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Thursday. "We were watching closely and there was no indication to the United States that any of that enriched uranium was moved," she said. The initial European intelligence assessment is unlikely to go down well with US President Donald Trump who is currently engaged with a fight with his own spy agencies about the impact of the US strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites. On Thursday, CIA Director John Ratcliffe said the strikes had caused "severe damage" to Iran's nuclear facilities after a leaked report downplayed the extent of the operation. According to Ratcliffe, key sites had been destroyed and would have to be rebuilt over the "course of years." But he stopped short of supporting Trump's claims that the operation on Iran's nuclear programme had been a "spectacular military success" that had "obliterated" the facilities. Trump's claims were supported by Israel's Atomic Energy Commission (IAEC) which said on Wednesday that US and Israeli strikes had rendered the Fordow underground enrichment site "inoperable." In a handout, the IAEC claimed the "devastating" strikes "destroyed the site's critical infrastructure." The new US intelligence assessment comes a day after a leaked early report from the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) played down the extent of the destruction and concluded that key components of Iran's nuclear program could be restarted in months. Speaking at the NATO Summit in The Hague on Wednesday, Trump rejected that assessment, insisting that his country's spies did not have the full picture and defended his own conclusion that American bombs and missiles delivered a crushing blow. "This was a devastating attack and it knocked them for a loop," Trump said as his administration scrambled to support claims he made only hours after the attack. The impact of the US strikes was also downplayed by Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. In his first public remarks since Iran and Israel agreed to a ceasefire which brought an end to the 12-day conflict, Khamenei said Trump's assessment had been "exaggerated." "They could not achieve anything significant," Khamenei said in a video message broadcast on state television. The US launched strikes on Sunday on three of Iran's nuclear facilities: Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan. At Fordow, which is buried deep under a mountain north of the city of Qom, US stealth bombers dropped several 14,000-kilogram bunker-buster bombs, collapsing the entrance and damaging infrastructure. But the facility itself was not destroyed, US intelligence found. Iran's ongoing nuclear program was at the heart of the recent conflict with Israel, which Israeli officials see as an existential threat to their country. Iran was previously subject to an international nuclear deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which saw the country receive sanctions relief in exchange for strict limits on its nuclear activities. During his first term in office, President Donald Trump withdrew the US from the pact in 2018, slamming it as "the worst deal ever negotiated" and slapping new sanctions on Iran. Since then, the other signatories to the deal have scrambled to keep Iran in compliance, but Tehran considers the deal void and has continued with uranium enrichment, which at current levels sits at 60%. That's still technically below the weapons-grade levels of 90%, but still far above the 3.67% permitted under the JCPOA. Iran maintains that its nuclear program is peaceful and purely for civilian purposes. — Euronews
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump Doesn't Like U.S. Intel on Iran Strike So Uses Israeli Report Instead
The White House made the unusual move of releasing a statement from Israel that appears to contradict intelligence from a Pentagon agency about the U.S. strikes on Iran The administration has vehemently criticized a leaked preliminary U.S. intelligence assessment that the strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities may not have been as devastating as Donald Trump claimed. On Tuesday, the White House issued a statement from the Israel Atomic Energy Commission (IAEC) as it continued to insist the strikes obliterated three Iranian targets. Speaking in the Netherlands, the president also read the statement from Israel aloud as he complained about the leaked intelligence and attacked the media for reporting on it. 'The devastating strike on Fordo destroyed the site's critical infrastructure and rendered the enrichment facility inoperable,' the IAEC statement read. 'We assess that the American strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities combined with Israeli strikes on other elements of Iran's military nuclear program, has set back Iran's ability to develop nuclear weapons by many years,' it continued. Israel pressured Trump to carry out the strikes before the mission, as the U.S. was the only country capable of bombing the Fordo nuclear site with its 'bunker busters.' The president on Wednesday repeatedly insisted the leaked intelligence was preliminary and they did not know, but he did not dispute what was in it. His own argument raises questions as to why the president himself announced the sites had been obliterated so soon after the strikes without further information. Even the Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dan Caine on Sunday said it was too early to tell the extent of the damage. That initial assessment from the Defense Intelligence Agency within the Pentagon suggested the strikes did not completely destroy the facilities and that the enriched uranium could have been moved, but Trump stood by his Saturday night remarks. 'It was so devastating actually. If you look at Hiroshima, if you look at Nagasaki, you know that ended a war too. This ended a war in a different way, but it was so devastating,' Trump said of the strikes. When asked whether the U.S. was relying on Israeli intelligence, Trump said he was not and also pointed to a statement from Iran. 'The document said it could be very severe damage, but they didn't take that. They said it could be limited or it could be very severe,' Trump said of the initial U.S. intel report. The president claimed that since then, they have also collected additional information and spoken to people who have seen the site, but he did not provide further evidence. 'The site is obliterated, and we think everything nuclear is down there,' Trump claimed. It comes as briefings with the House and Senate on the strikes on Tuesday were abruptly canceled, raising questions from Democrats over whether the intelligence disputed the president's claims on Iran. Those briefings are now scheduled for Thursday and Friday. Trump officials, including the president, on Wednesday also suggested the media reports on the preliminary intelligence were attacks on the military and pilots who carried out the daring mission. However, none of the reports demeaned the brave men and women who carried out the operationally successful mission, but shared the early assessment that the damage was limited and only set back the program months.
Euronews
2 days ago
- Politics
- Euronews
Iran's uranium stocks said to be intact, UK media says
Iran's stockpile of highly enriched uranium is believed to be largely intact following US strikes on the country's main nuclear sites, the Financial Times reported on Thursday, citing European officials. The newspaper, citing two people briefed on preliminary intelligence assessments, said European capitals believe Iran's stockpile of 408 kilograms of uranium enriched close to weapons-grade levels was not being held in Fordow and may have been moved prior to US strikes on Sunday. Claims that uranium was moved from any of Iran's nuclear sites were dismissed by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Thursday. "We were watching closely and there was no indication to the United States that any of that enriched uranium was moved," she said. The initial European intelligence assessment is unlikely to go down well with US President Donald Trump who is currently engaged with a fight with his own spy agencies about the impact of the US strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites. On Thursday, CIA Director John Ratcliffe said the strikes had caused "severe damage" to Iran's nuclear facilities after a leaked report downplayed the extent of the operation. According to Ratcliffe, key sites had been destroyed and would have to be rebuilt over the "course of years." But he stopped short of supporting Trump's claims that the operation on Iran's nuclear programme had been a "spectacular military success" that had "obliterated" the facilities. Trump's claims were supported by Israel's Atomic Energy Commission (IAEC) which said on Wednesday that US and Israeli strikes had rendered the Fordow underground enrichment site "inoperable." In a handout, the IAEC claimed the "devastating" strikes "destroyed the site's critical infrastructure." The new US intelligence assessment comes a day after a leaked early report from the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) played down the extent of the destruction and concluded that key components of Iran's nuclear programme could be restarted in months. Speaking at the NATO Summit in The Hague on Wednesday, Trump rejected that assessment, insisting that his country's spies did not have the full picture and defended his own conclusion that American bombs and missiles delivered a crushing blow. "This was a devastating attack and it knocked them for a loop," Trump said as his administration scrambled to support claims he made only hours after the attack. The impact of the US strikes was also downplayed by Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. In his first public remarks since Iran and Israel agreed to a ceasefire which brought an end to the 12-day conflict, Khamenei said Trump's assessment had been "exaggerated." "They could not achieve anything significant," Khamenei said in a video message broadcast on state television. US military operation The US launched strikes on Sunday on three of Iran's nuclear facilities; Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan. At Fordow, which is buried deep under a mountain north of the city of Qom, US stealth bombers dropped several 14,000-kilogram bunker-buster bombs, collapsing the entrance and damaging infrastructure. But the facility itself was not destroyed, US intelligence found. Iran's ongoing nuclear programme was at the heart of the recent conflict with Israel, which Israeli officials see as an existential threat to their country. Iran was previously subject to an international nuclear deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which saw the country receive sanctions relief in exchange for strict limits on its nuclear activities. During his first term in office, President Donald Trump withdrew the US from the pact in 2018, slamming it as "the worst deal ever negotiated" and slapping new sanctions on Iran. Since then, the other signatories to the deal have scrambled to keep Iran in compliance, but Tehran considers the deal void and has continued with uranium enrichment, which at current levels sits at 60%. That's still technically below the weapons-grade levels of 90%, but still far above the 3.67% permitted under the JCPOA. Iran maintains that its nuclear programme is peaceful and purely for civilian purposes.
