Reports of an explosion at Iran's Fordow nuclear facility have surfaced and are being both confirmed and denied by multiple sources.
The Jerusalem Post cites a report by Reza Kahlili that says: “The blast shook facilities within a radius of three miles. Security forces have enforced a no-traffic radius of 15 miles, and the Tehran- Qom highway was shut down for several hours after the blast.”
Kahlili's report says the Fordow nuclear facility was severely damaged in an explosion and up to 240 workers trapped inside. The explosion was reportedly confined to the plant, suggesting that if it were an airstrike, it was highly localized. But this possibility is no more or less likely than sabotage, or an accident, assuming the explosion occurred at all.
Let em have nukes, they will kill themselves off before they can use them on anyone else
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Things that make you go hmmmmmmm: the explosion occurred on the eve of last week's election in Israel.
Quote:
Speaking privately, officials in Israel's foreign ministry – known to have an extensive surveillance network monitoring Iran's key nuclear sites – claimed they had no reliable intelligence of an explosion at Fordow.
One theory put forward by Shlomo Aronson, an expert in Israeli foreign security policy at Jerusalem's Hebrew University, is that Tehran had deliberately leaked false reports about a blast to prevent international inspectors from entering the site.
"They [Tehran] are more than capable of inventing such a story – although if it's true, a damaged Fordow would definitely benefit Israel," Mr Aronson conceded.
Buried 300 feet underground, the nuclear fortress at Fordow is immune to air strikes or bunker bombs. It contains more than 2,700 centrifuges enriching uranium to more than 20 per cent.
Yep because the complete obliteration of a country mostly filled with innocent people is something to root for.
On topic: Wonder if there was a fission explosion that may affect neighboring countries with fallout...
It was a joke, everyone down here in the states is just freaking out about Iran having a nuke.
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Thank you for everything CP. Good memories and thankful for everything that has been done to help me out. I will no longer take part on these boards. Take care, Go Flames Go.
Doubt if that was an airstrike, that thing is basically buried
If it was the Mossad then this is the operation of the last hundred years based on the paranoia around that facility.
If this did happen, then I'm leaning towards a what does this button do type of incident
It would definitely be an espionage story for the ages, but if anyone could do it, I would think Mossad would be the ones.
Israel has been pretty upfront about their stance of not letting Iran develop their nuclear program and will take whatever necessary steps they think they need to. I don't know what to think really, but I kind of hope they did do it after all the threats that were made by Iran.
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"A pessimist thinks things can't get any worse. An optimist knows they can."
It would definitely be an espionage story for the ages, but if anyone could do it, I would think Mossad would be the ones.
Israel has been pretty upfront about their stance of not letting Iran develop their nuclear program and will take whatever necessary steps they think they need to. I don't know what to think really, but I kind of hope they did do it after all the threats that were made by Iran.
If it was the Mossad and they did pull it off, then its a bigger story then the intelligence work done throughout the whole war on terror stuff.
You've got to think that the security at that facility and the vetting of their workers and the site security were at an elite and paranoid level, its not like you could just smuggle explosives in.
One theory that I've seen before is that you can destroy a facility like this by cutting off the power to the centrifuges, it not only wrecks them but releases highly toxic and corrosive gasses, but I don't think that would cause an explosion.
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If it was the Mossad and they did pull it off, then its a bigger story then the intelligence work done throughout the whole war on terror stuff.
You've got to think that the security at that facility and the vetting of their workers and the site security were at an elite and paranoid level, its not like you could just smuggle explosives in.
One theory that I've seen before is that you can destroy a facility like this by cutting off the power to the centrifuges, it not only wrecks them but releases highly toxic and corrosive gasses, but I don't think that would cause an explosion.
I'm guessing the most likely way that Mossad would get in their would be via the computer system. If Iran was dumb enough to have that facility linked to an outside computer network of any kind, they were asking for such an attack.
There's also the possibility Mossad could access the system via some kind of transmitor outside, although that seems unlikely given the facility is burried deep underground. Another possibility is they got an operative to enter a computer virus into the system manually.
If it was the Mossad and they did pull it off, then its a bigger story then the intelligence work done throughout the whole war on terror stuff.
You've got to think that the security at that facility and the vetting of their workers and the site security were at an elite and paranoid level, its not like you could just smuggle explosives in.
One theory that I've seen before is that you can destroy a facility like this by cutting off the power to the centrifuges, it not only wrecks them but releases highly toxic and corrosive gasses, but I don't think that would cause an explosion.
Interesting... yeah, it would quite the achievement.
I think Iran's reaction might tell the story. They are unlikely to ever give Israel credit for a job well done, but I am sure they will have no problem blaming them for their own problems. As weird as it sounds, if they choose not to blame Israel for it, it will make me consider that maybe Israel did do it.
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"A pessimist thinks things can't get any worse. An optimist knows they can."
It would definitely be an espionage story for the ages, but if anyone could do it, I would think Mossad would be the ones.
Israel has been pretty upfront about their stance of not letting Iran develop their nuclear program and will take whatever necessary steps they think they need to. I don't know what to think really, but I kind of hope they did do it after all the threats that were made by Iran.
Wasn't there a credited or uncredited Israeli diplomat in the last week quoted as saying Israel felt it probably didn't need to bomb Iran anymore?
Spooky timing.
Cowperson
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I'm guessing the most likely way that Mossad would get in their would be via the computer system. If Iran was dumb enough to have that facility linked to an outside computer network of any kind, they were asking for such an attack.
There's also the possibility Mossad could access the system via some kind of transmitor outside, although that seems unlikely given the facility is burried deep underground. Another possibility is they got an operative to enter a computer virus into the system manually.
Personally I would be amazed that a facility like that was linked to the outside world via the Internet, and the net work security would be awesome.
However I remember reading the Wall Street Journal last week and there was a concern in the U.S. that the next 9/11 attack would take place via cyberspace.
With the level of hacking out there it wouldn't take much to shut down the fail safes in a nuclear reactor or shut down control systems to cause a runaway reaction.
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My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Explosion at Iran Nuclear Facility?
