Liberal Forum

It was bound to happen. If Iran had nukes they would have used them against Israel ages ago.

Israel ‘ready to strike Iran’ as US evacuates bases and embassies
(Full article at above link)

Israel is considering launching a missile strike in the coming days without American support. It comes as the UN nuclear watchdog’s board of governors found that Iran had broken its non-proliferation agreement for the first time in 20 years. The governors demanded that Iran provided answers “without delay” in a long-running investigation into uranium traces found at several locations that Tehran has failed to declare as nuclear sites. Iran is believed to have enriched uranium to at least 60 per cent, putting it within “sprint” distance of a potential nuclear device. In response to the ruling, the Islamic Republic said it had no choice but to respond by establishing a new enrichment facility in a “secure location” and “significantly” increasing its production of enriched uranium. Behrouz Kamalvandi, a spokesman for Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, said: “We are replacing all of these first-generation machines with sixth-generation advanced machines” at the Fordow uranium enrichment plant, south of Tehran. He added that this meant “our production of enriched material will increase significantly”.
A senior Iranian official told Reuters that Tehran will not abandon its right to uranium enrichment because of mounting frictions in the region, adding that a “friendly” country had alerted Tehran over a potential military strike by Israel. The official said the tensions were aimed at influencing Tehran to “change its position about its nuclear rights” during talks with the US in Oman on Sunday.
Military and intelligence chiefs have been concerned for several months that Mr. Trump might strike a “soft” deal with Iran that does not guarantee the Jewish state’s long-term security in order to establish his legacy as a peacemaker.
The aim of that deal was to keep Iran at least 12 months away from being able to build a nuclear warhead. Although it claims that this is for civilian purposes, numerous experts and watchdogs say there is no justifiable military purpose for such highly enriched uranium.US officials are reportedly concerned that, if pushed, Iran could engineer a "crude nuclear bomb" in a matter of weeks. However, it would likely to have to be delivered on a truck or a ship, as miniaturizing it on to a ballistic missile would take longer and be more likely to be detected by the US and Israel.
 
 

Drop 3 of these....
Bing Videos

MR-7 » 12 Jun 2025, 11:23 am » wrote: ↑

12 Jun 2025, 11:23 am

Drop 3 of these....
Bing Videos

The MOAB is over 20 years old.  I firmly believe we have more powerful ordnance than the original MOAB, which we may not officially know about. 
 
 

Skans » 12 Jun 2025, 2:02 pm » wrote: ↑

12 Jun 2025, 2:02 pm

The MOAB is over 20 years old.  I firmly believe we have more powerful ordnance than the original MOAB, which we may not officially know about.

I wondered in the past why a 2-stage bomb wouldn't work.
One that, upon impact, detonates behind the "working" bomb and drives it much further/deeper than a conventional drop could go.
That was one of the functions of the MOAB after all. A bunker buster.
 

Blow them to hell and wipe them off the map.

DeezerShoove » 12 Jun 2025, 6:04 pm » wrote: ↑

12 Jun 2025, 6:04 pm

I wondered in the past why a 2-stage bomb wouldn't work.
One that, upon impact, detonates behind the "working" bomb and drives it much further/deeper than a conventional drop could go.
That was one of the functions of the MOAB after all. A bunker buster.

What is interesting to me is the evolution of conventional ordnance in the 80 year wake of fission and fusion bombs. Nuclear weapons have become somewhat obsolete (so we think, anyway).  If you look at the Sci-Fi movies from the 60's, 70's, 80's even up to the 2000's - they all deal with nuclear war and post nuclear dystopians. 
 

Skans » 13 Jun 2025, 7:40 am » wrote: ↑

13 Jun 2025, 7:40 am

What is interesting to me is the evolution of conventional ordnance in the 80 year wake of fission and fusion bombs. Nuclear weapons have become somewhat obsolete (so we think, anyway).  If you look at the Sci-Fi movies from the 60's, 70's, 80's even up to the 2000's - they all deal with nuclear war and post nuclear dystopians.

Nukes are expensive to build and expensive to keep.

That's why it was easy to see nukes come off the table and returned to Russia after the USSR break up.
In a few years they'd have become very obsolete and unreliable toxic dumpsters.
Ukraine did themselves a favor ridding themselves of the headache.
Chernobyl was bad enough all by itself. A "nice" lesson.

DeezerShoove » 13 Jun 2025, 10:57 am » wrote: ↑

13 Jun 2025, 10:57 am

Nukes are expensive to build and expensive to keep.

That's why it was easy to see nukes come off the table and returned to Russia after the USSR break up.
In a few years they'd have become very obsolete and unreliable toxic dumpsters.
Ukraine did themselves a favor ridding themselves of the headache.
Chernobyl was bad enough all by itself. A "nice" lesson.

Perhaps.  But, I can remember when I couldn't wait to turn 21 so I could, on my own, buy my first handgun.  That's what's going on with Iran's Mullahs - they want their first Nuke.  Problem with them is, they would actually use it.
 

Israeli strike sets ablaze Iran's largest gas field as energy infrastructure targeted

Israeli forces have struck Phase 14 of Iran's South Pars gas field, the world's largest natural gas reservoir, setting parts of the facility on fire, IRGC-linked media reported on June 14.

 The attack targeted the facility in Kangan County on the Persian Gulf coast in Bushehr Province, with local sources and eyewitnesses describing a drone-like aerial strike that caused fire damage to the installation.
 
 

UK sends fighter jets to Middle East as Israel-Iran conflict escalates

Skans » 14 Jun 2025, 12:10 pm » wrote: ↑

14 Jun 2025, 12:10 pm

Perhaps.  But, I can remember when I couldn't wait to turn 21 so I could, on my own, buy my first handgun.  That's what's going on with Iran's Mullahs - they want their first Nuke.  Problem with them is, they would actually use it.

Even if they had to drag it...