#Iran has made it clear they are not interested in having conversations with the #UnitedStates, accusing Washington of deceiving Tehran during the last set of negotiations while planning the air attack. Moreover, that stockpile of fuel is now one of the few #nuclear bargaining chips in Iranian hands.

In a briefing for reporters on Sunday, #Defense Secy #PeteHegseth & the new chair of the #JointChiefs of Staff, Dan Caine, avoided #Trump’s maximalist claims of success.

…Satellite photographs of the primary target, the #Fordow #uranium enrichment plant that #Iran built under a mountain, showed several holes where a dozen 30k-pound Massive Ordnance Penetrators—one of the largest conventional bombs in the #US arsenal—punched deep holes in the rock. The Israeli military’s initial analysis concluded that the site, the target of American & Israeli military planners for >6 years, sustained serious damage from the strike but had not been completely destroyed.

#war

But there was also evidence, acc/to 2 Israeli officials with knowledge of the intelligence, that #Iran had moved equipment & #uranium from the site in recent days. And there was growing evidence that the Iranians, attuned to #Trump’s repeated threats to take #military action, had removed 400 kilograms, or roughly 880 pounds, of uranium enriched to 60% purity. That is just below the 90% that is usually used in #nuclear weapons.

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The 60% enriched fuel had been stored deep inside another #nuclear complex, near the ancient capital of Isfahan. Rafael Mariano Grossi, the director general of the #IAEA, said by text that the fuel had last been seen by his teams of United Nations inspectors about a week before #Israel began its attacks on #Iran. In an interview on CNN on Sunday he added that “Iran has made no secret that they have protected this material.”

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Asked by text later in the day whether he meant that the fuel stockpile—which is stored in special casks small enough to fit in the trunks of about 10 cars—had been moved, Grossi replied, “I do.” That appeared to be the mystery about the fuel’s fate that #JDVance was discussing.

If so, Isfahan would not be the only place where the custodians of #Iran’s #nuclear program…were trying to move equipment & material out of sight, & harden the Fordow plant to protect what had to stay…

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Satellite images released by Maxar Technologies at the tunnels leading into the #Fordow mountain, taken in the days before the American strike, show 16 cargo trucks positioned near an entrance. An analysis by the Open Source Centre in London suggested that #Iran may have been preparing the site for a strike.

It is unclear exactly what, if anything, was removed from the facility.

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…History…suggests that #diplomacy has usually been more effective than sabotage or #military attacks in providing assurances that a country does not pursue atomic weapons. >15 years ago, the joint #US - #Israel attack on #Natanz, using a sophisticated cyber weapon, caused about ⅕ of the country’s 5k or so centrifuges to blow up.

But #Iran not only rebuilt, they installed more sophisticated equipment. Before Israel’s attack this month, they had ~19k centrifuges in operation.

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It was only when the #Obama admin struck the 2015 #nuclear deal with #Iran that the #UnitedStates got a fuller picture of its capabilities, thanks to the work of inspectors. And those inspections were choked off — & many security cameras disabled — after #Trump declared the nuclear accord a “disaster” & withdrew from it.

Tehran’s reaction was to scale up centrifuge production, enrich #uranium at levels only #weapons states need, & stonewall the #IAEA.

#MiddleEast #war