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Arazi

(8,206 posts)
Wed Jun 25, 2025, 04:28 PM Jun 25

Iran could have a bomb within the next 3 weeks

According to nuclear scientists and IAEA experts.
If Traitor had left the JCPOA in place there’d be no enriched uranium at this point. Now they’re going to build a bomb. Bank on it

A single cascade of 174 IR-6 centrifuges could produce a bomb's worth of 90% highly enriched uranium from the 60% enriched material whose location is unknown in 10-20 days.

Iran doesn't need to rebuild enrichment facilities on their previous scale to get the bomb.

James Acton (@nuclear-jim.bsky.social) 2025-06-25T20:13:49.060Z
43 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Iran could have a bomb within the next 3 weeks (Original Post) Arazi Jun 25 OP
They have no way of delivering it nt doc03 Jun 25 #1
If I had to guess China or Russia will help with that part Arazi Jun 25 #4
Iran doesn't have any aircraft with enough lift capacity to carry a bomb? Lancero Jun 25 #11
No DetroitLegalBeagle Jun 25 #17
Keywords, dedicated strategic bomber. If Iran gets desperate enough, they can slap it on a lot of stuff. Lancero Jun 25 #22
Yeah, I'm wondering why folks are fixated on this having to be on a plane or missile Arazi Jun 25 #24
Funniest thing is that we did a study back in the 90's on the possibility of slapping nukes on Drones... Lancero Jun 25 #28
Shipping container, box truck, freighter or tanker ship ThoughtCriminal Jun 25 #38
I read a haunting USAF report once carpetbagger Jun 25 #27
Didn't totally not a war criminal Colin Powell say they could deliver it via taco truck? Iggo Jun 25 #30
They still have a lot of missiles of various sizes.... Jack Valentino Jun 25 #32
oh my. how many times am stillcool Jun 25 #2
We can't wait H2O Man Jun 25 #5
and they couldn't sell it either stillcool Jun 25 #14
lol too true Arazi Jun 25 #8
like Scooter said to Judith Miller stillcool Jun 25 #16
Gabbard trying to get back on trump's good side. choie Jun 25 #3
If true, will trump use that as an excuse for another bombing run? Silent Type Jun 25 #6
Of course he will he always telegraphs his intentions. doc03 Jun 25 #12
Will Amazon deliver an A-bomb? -misanthroptimist Jun 25 #7
Maybe Door Dash. doc03 Jun 25 #21
If someone gave them one and way to deliver it what would they do? Bomb Isreal and be totally destroyed doc03 Jun 25 #9
Again, many countries can want it for deterrence, not aggression Arazi Jun 25 #25
So which is it that you think Iran would want it for? AloeVera Jun 25 #29
Obviously the world believes they want it for aggression (suicide) Arazi Jun 25 #31
"We just nicely showed Iran that they need deterrence from the villainous West too"--- Jack Valentino Jun 25 #33
Yup. Whatever forces in Iran who were still trying to wrangle negotiations Arazi Jun 25 #35
Iran blinded 130 woman in 2024 for protesting. In 2023 one of their budget proposals presented within their assembly Melon Jun 26 #43
Russia said it would give them weapons. Blue Full Moon Jun 25 #10
"A Russian" said that other countries would give them weapons--- Jack Valentino Jun 25 #34
Odd OC375 Jun 25 #13
That is to enrich to 90%--NOT TO MAKE A BOMB. Please folks pay attention to facts. Details matter. hlthe2b Jun 25 #15
Miniturization will probably take longer then that DetroitLegalBeagle Jun 25 #18
Horse crap. Jirel Jun 25 #19
Just to be clear, Jim Acton isn't fear mongering Arazi Jun 25 #20
After the bombings? iemanja Jun 25 #23
We know where they are. They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat. unblock Jun 25 #26
pull the other one, it's got bells on Celerity Jun 25 #36
What ever happened to those alleged suitcase doc03 Jun 25 #37
Face it, Gabbard, area51 Jun 25 #39
We can't be going from their was no threat to bomb in 3 weeks? Melon Jun 26 #40
The message is don't believe Traitor and his propaganda Arazi Jun 26 #41
That's not the message from everyone discussing Melon Jun 26 #42

Lancero

(3,220 posts)
11. Iran doesn't have any aircraft with enough lift capacity to carry a bomb?
Wed Jun 25, 2025, 04:54 PM
Jun 25
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enola_Gay

Long range missiles are the preferred way mount atomic weapons these days, but they're not the only way.

DetroitLegalBeagle

(2,406 posts)
17. No
Wed Jun 25, 2025, 05:36 PM
Jun 25

Most of Irans aircraft are old. And they don't have any bombers. Most nations don't have bombers anymore. I think only the US, Russia, and China have dedicated strategic bombers now. It makes sense, modern air defenses make approaching and entering enemy airspace risky. The only bombers that are still going to drop a gravity nuke is a stealth one. And even those will probably just fire a standoff one weapon like a cruise missile unless you have total air supremacy or a bunch of ewar aircraft blinding everything.

Lancero

(3,220 posts)
22. Keywords, dedicated strategic bomber. If Iran gets desperate enough, they can slap it on a lot of stuff.
Wed Jun 25, 2025, 06:30 PM
Jun 25

Given that most of the nations they take issue with are rather close to their border, they don't really need to go all in on a long-range delivery vehicle.

If they have a jet in their inventory, they have a delivery vehicle. Not a very good one perhaps, but still good enough to scare any of their regional enemies.

The idea that a nuclear weapon should only be considered a threat if it's equipped to a high-tech stealth bomber is pure techno-fetishism.

Lancero

(3,220 posts)
28. Funniest thing is that we did a study back in the 90's on the possibility of slapping nukes on Drones...
Wed Jun 25, 2025, 07:01 PM
Jun 25

Back in the days when the MQ-1 Predator was top of the line.

https://media.defense.gov/2017/Dec/29/2001862132/-1/-1/0/T_RENEHAN_UNMANNED_AERIAL_VEHICLES.PDF

What was the other thing that Iran spent years and millions of dollars developing again? Oh yeah... Their drone program.

ThoughtCriminal

(14,606 posts)
38. Shipping container, box truck, freighter or tanker ship
Wed Jun 25, 2025, 11:29 PM
Jun 25

Lots of low tech ways to deliver a bomb.

carpetbagger

(5,320 posts)
27. I read a haunting USAF report once
Wed Jun 25, 2025, 06:55 PM
Jun 25

It was in some war college book. Iran or terrorists detonate a nuclear bomb inside Iran to blame America and Israel.

Iggo

(49,019 posts)
30. Didn't totally not a war criminal Colin Powell say they could deliver it via taco truck?
Wed Jun 25, 2025, 10:17 PM
Jun 25

Jack Valentino

(2,881 posts)
32. They still have a lot of missiles of various sizes....
Wed Jun 25, 2025, 10:58 PM
Jun 25

Seems like one of those might be used to deliver a smaller tactical nuke---
but not within 3 weeks time... they'd still have to build the actual bomb,
and adapt one of their delivery vehicles for it...



stillcool

(34,386 posts)
14. and they couldn't sell it either
Wed Jun 25, 2025, 05:13 PM
Jun 25

not that it mattered. What a difference between then and now, and yet here we are replacing the Q with an N.

Arazi

(8,206 posts)
8. lol too true
Wed Jun 25, 2025, 04:50 PM
Jun 25

Unfortunately I think the gauntlet has been thrown (by us) and they’re not going to waste time waffling between different internal factions anymore.

Going to guess they’re all united on getting it done now

stillcool

(34,386 posts)
16. like Scooter said to Judith Miller
Wed Jun 25, 2025, 05:28 PM
Jun 25

they turn in clusters because their roots connect them.

doc03

(38,179 posts)
9. If someone gave them one and way to deliver it what would they do? Bomb Isreal and be totally destroyed
Wed Jun 25, 2025, 04:51 PM
Jun 25

in a matter of minutes? Same goes for North Korea, Russia, India, Pakistan, France, England whoever,
it is a useless weapon other than an insurance policy. In my opinion the two most likely countries to use
one is the USA and Israel just because of our current insane leadership.

Arazi

(8,206 posts)
25. Again, many countries can want it for deterrence, not aggression
Wed Jun 25, 2025, 06:39 PM
Jun 25

We just bombed the shit out of Iran.

We would not have bombed the shit out of them if they had a nuclear weapon.

Ergo, many countries will now see possession of a nuclear weapon or two as a critical defense deterrent. Many in the IR world now believe Iran has learned that lesson and will put aside internal differences and work to weaponize their uranium immediately instead of using their hidden program as a “Will they won’t they” negotiating tactic.

Arazi

(8,206 posts)
31. Obviously the world believes they want it for aggression (suicide)
Wed Jun 25, 2025, 10:52 PM
Jun 25

I’m not any kind of expert on this so I won’t pretend to know.

The only thing I do know is they’re a Shia majority country surrounded by Sunni regimes that hate them. Every IR expert posits Iran believes they “need” deterrence for historical reasons (and yes, more recently in Persia’s many century long existence - Israel/Jew hatred).

We just nicely showed Iran that they need deterrence from the villainous West too. Whatever forces constrained Iran from going 60-90% enrichment and putting it on a delivery system are now gone.

Iran may superficially agree to negotiations with Traitor and the US but most experts believe Iran doesn’t trust or believe anything we say anymore and will persist in attaining a weapon asap even as they straight up lie to our (and the IAEA) faces. We have no idea where any part of their nuclear program/enriched uranium exists anymore.

Enter James Acton and the OP on the JCPOA…

Jack Valentino

(2,881 posts)
33. "We just nicely showed Iran that they need deterrence from the villainous West too"---
Wed Jun 25, 2025, 11:02 PM
Jun 25

As if the Iraq war didn't prove it---- and Iran was target #2
on the Neocon's "regime change" list....

Arazi

(8,206 posts)
35. Yup. Whatever forces in Iran who were still trying to wrangle negotiations
Wed Jun 25, 2025, 11:10 PM
Jun 25

And stringing along the west as they moved along on their nukes program have now been converted into hardliners.

Who knows, Israel probably bombed and killed the moderate/work-with-the-West guys. I don’t know enough about the internal dynamics of Iranian politics to know whose still alive anymore

Melon

(632 posts)
43. Iran blinded 130 woman in 2024 for protesting. In 2023 one of their budget proposals presented within their assembly
Thu Jun 26, 2025, 03:40 AM
Jun 26

was to kidnap Americans for ransom.

It’s a radical government that pledges death to America. And your idea is to placate them so they are less hostile? They don’t do things to kill America because they can’t. Same with Israel. Our military is what keeps them in check. They’d invade Israel tomorrow if they had a chance in hell. Until they get a regime change, they need to be held to as low of technological level as possible.

Jack Valentino

(2,881 posts)
34. "A Russian" said that other countries would give them weapons---
Wed Jun 25, 2025, 11:05 PM
Jun 25

A Russian who no longer holds any office in Russia,
and reportedly spouts off a lot like a loose cannon...

However, Pakistan has claimed sympathy for Iran,
and they DO have the bomb...

OC375

(141 posts)
13. Odd
Wed Jun 25, 2025, 05:11 PM
Jun 25

Thought they had no desire for nukes? You'd figure they'd be 3 weeks away from boundless nuclear power, with how long this research has been going on. If they're 3 weeks from The Bomb, there is apparently more work to be done neutering them.

hlthe2b

(110,797 posts)
15. That is to enrich to 90%--NOT TO MAKE A BOMB. Please folks pay attention to facts. Details matter.
Wed Jun 25, 2025, 05:14 PM
Jun 25

Estimates are at LEAST a year (and likely more to actually construct even a NK-style crude early bomb.

The point that TSF was an utter idiot to have torn up the Obama agreement is valid as we would not be looking at that short time span to go from 60-90% enriched Uranium but rather would have been in the single digits. But, there is no way that in 120 days Iran will not only enrich to 90% but also build the completed bomb.

DetroitLegalBeagle

(2,406 posts)
18. Miniturization will probably take longer then that
Wed Jun 25, 2025, 05:39 PM
Jun 25

Anyone with enough fissile material can make a gun type. A miniturized implosion one, thats considerably more difficult.

Jirel

(2,355 posts)
19. Horse crap.
Wed Jun 25, 2025, 05:46 PM
Jun 25

If they’d had the capability they would’ve already done it. You can bank on that.

Israel has assassinated top scientists and engineers. They may have saved the uranium but likely not the equipment needed to complete a usable weapon. They are having to make do with secondary work site(s) they can not draw attention to.

Even if they could produce a core in weeks, they’d still have to deliver it. The likelihood of that is also small.

This is right-wing fear-mongering.

Also, we should be no more concerned about Iran having a nuke at some future date, than we should be now about Bibi Netanyahu having nukes.

Arazi

(8,206 posts)
20. Just to be clear, Jim Acton isn't fear mongering
Wed Jun 25, 2025, 05:55 PM
Jun 25

I believe he’s simply pointing out that Iran is now fully motivated to put aside partisan internal fighting over weaponizing their uranium and most likely will do so post-haste. His larger point about the JCPOA stands.

And tbh, Iran - whether it’s ruled by the Islamic Republic or becomes a full fledged democracy - remains a hated Shia majority country surrounded by Sunnis. Perhaps they lose their murderous hatred for Israel but other ancient grievances remain that may compel them to obtain a nuclear device for deterrence, large or small, regardless.

iemanja

(56,336 posts)
23. After the bombings?
Wed Jun 25, 2025, 06:33 PM
Jun 25

That makes zero sense. We've heard nothing but how Iran is away from a nuke for two decades now. I believe it as much as I believe the WMD in Iraq. Hasn't this war been destructive enough already?

Also, a tweet that provides no evidence and says only "Iran could have a nuclear bomb" is far from persuasive. It's irresponsible to try to pass that off as evidence, when it obviously isn't.

unblock

(55,437 posts)
26. We know where they are. They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat.
Wed Jun 25, 2025, 06:49 PM
Jun 25

doc03

(38,179 posts)
37. What ever happened to those alleged suitcase
Wed Jun 25, 2025, 11:27 PM
Jun 25

nukes being passed around about 10-20 years ago

Melon

(632 posts)
40. We can't be going from their was no threat to bomb in 3 weeks?
Thu Jun 26, 2025, 12:18 AM
Jun 26

If this is true, that they can have a bomb in 3 weeks, then Israel and the US were 200% justified in bombing Iran. This is crazy and is counter to yesterdays message.

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