Posted on 01/09/2012 11:31:49 PM PST by Olog-hai
Iran has begun enriching uranium deep inside a mountain and sentenced an American to death for spying, angering the West and undermining hopes that diplomacy could avert further sanctions or war.
The start of enrichment at the Fordow bunker near the Shi'ite Muslim holy city of Qom was confirmed on Monday by an Iranian official in Tehran and by the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency.
Iran says its nuclear program is purely non-military but the West believes it is designed to produce nuclear weapons.
The Islamic Republic's decision to carry out enrichment work deep underground could eventually make it much harder for U.S. or Israeli forces to bomb, narrowing the time window for diplomacy to avert any potential attack.
The death sentence for Amir Mirza Hekmati, 28, an Arizona-born former U.S. military translator with dual nationality, further riled Washington, which denies he is a spy and has demanded his immediate release since his arrest.
Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Venezuela's Hugo Chavez mocked U.S. disapproval and joked about having an atom bomb.
"Despite those arrogant people who do not wish us to be together, we will unite forever," the Iranian leader told Chavez during a visit to Caracas.
"That hill will open up and a big atomic bomb will come out," Chavez said of a grassy knoll near his palace.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Time for Stuxnet v2.0?
I am surprised they even bother having these things deep underground. Its not like anyone has the cojones to do anything about this now, and they will definitely not do anything once they actually have nukes.
That was a one time Mission Impossible sort of thing, actually stopping the Mullahs requires ATLEAST a sustained no fly zone over Iran, maybe even an actual invasion.
As Ole Adolf learned in 1945, wars are not won by wonder weapon gizmos.
air drop a battalion of rangers on the mountain. give them all the air and naval support they need. coordinate the ranger’s attack with a concurrent air attack directed against their ccc, their navy, their air defense net, and any exposed armor that can easily be destroyed. capture a handful of scientists that seem willing to talk. kill the rest. load their facilities up with HE and blow it to hell once everyone is back in the air. repeat as needed.
Don’t forget our spies managed to “liberate” a lot of that German engineering wonder weapon technology during the war - lol. As the old saying goes, the US won the space race by getting more German scientists than the Soviets did!
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