[uhhhd]

The photos of the facilities are literally all over the internet. The IAEA knew about it and knew Iran was enriching weapons grade uranium. This isn't Iraq 2.

[sodality2]

Flies in the face of the US intelligence community’s report at the end of March [0], but, I am not floored if true. Do you have any sources?

Edit: If you mean "Verification and monitoring in the Islamic Republic of Iran in light of United Nations Security Council resolution 2231 (2015)" [1], that report explicitly mentions up to 60% which is not weapons grade.

[0]: https://www.newsweek.com/tulsi-gabbard-iran-nuclear-weapon-2... [1]: https://www.iaea.org/sites/default/files/25/06/gov2025-24.pd...

[dralley]

This stuff gets grammar-hacked a million different ways.

Yes, 60% enriched Uranium is not weapons-grade, but it can be made weapons grade very quickly. Once you've gotten to 60%, you've done 99% of the work - U-235 starts as such a small percentage of natural Uranium that most of the process is spent at very low concentrations.

It can simultaneously be true that Iran isn't "imminently creating a bomb" and also that they're actively working towards a breakout point where they could build a dozen bombs in very quick succession once they did decide to go forwards with the process.

I don't personally think they were rushing towards a bomb at this moment, but Israel isn't really in the mood to wait around until they decide to do so.

[hollerith]

60% enrichment may not be weapons grade, but it takes only days or weeks to go from 60% to 90%. It is much easier than going from natural uranium to 60%.

[827a]

But maybe a little harshly: Who cares? Does it somehow raise the moral foundation of the operation if they had nukes? Would the attack suddenly be unethical if it was only against a military target with the public, accepted purpose to, one day, be able to develop precursors to nuclear weapons? Why?

[frontfor]

60% enrichment level is significantly higher than what’s required for peaceful purposes. To say that it’s not weapons grade is just disingenuous.

[sorcerer-mar]

Except that it is literally not weapons grade.

It turns out there's a big gap between most peaceful purposes and weapons grade, and this was in that gap.

[twothreeone]

Wikipedia points to a source that says it is used for parts of a multi-stage fusion bomb:

> Uranium with enrichments ranging from 40% to 80% U-235 has been used in large amounts in U.S. thermonuclear weapons as a yield-boosting jacketing material for the secondary fusion stage

Source: http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Nwfaq/Nfaq6.html#nfaq6.2

[sorcerer-mar]

Ah yes, alongside the weapons grade steel and weapons grade copper.

[Retric]

There’s no minimum qualification for steel to be useful in a bomb, there is for uranium which this meets.

[fallingknife]

When the only purpose of stepping into that gap is to get to weapons grade, it doesn't really work as a gray area.

[dj_gitmo]

> Iran was enriching weapons grade uranium

Do you have a citation for this?

[flyinglizard]

IAEA was claiming 60% enrichment. Enough weapons grade material for nine warheads: https://isis-online.org/uploads/isis-reports/documents/Analy...

[dragontamer]

Weapons grade Uranium is over 90% purity.

60% is just a stepping stone towards 90%.

[lamontcg]

That's like saying driving from NYC to Sacramento is just a "Stepping Stone" to driving to SF. You've done most of the drive.

To get 1kg of U-235 requires 1.11kg at 90% purity, 1.67kg at 60% purity, and 140.6kg at natural 0.711% purity.

[Teever]

Sure, but if this is being talked about like there's a legal justification to take military action then there actually has to be legal justification.

Was what Iran doing illegal?

[firesteelrain]

It was a pre-emptive strike based on the behaviors of a state sponsor of terrorism. It’s not like the US and its allies have not tried to stop this before - see StuxNet

[busterarm]

You only get to 60% on the road to 90%. At 60% it has no other useful purpose.

[codethief]

I read an interview with a nuclear physicist the other day who said "If you can do 60%, you've nailed the technique, so 90% is not difficult anymore."

Besides, there is no non-military need for enriching uranium beyond a few percent, so it's very clear what those 60% mean.

[tmnvix]

Are there other uses for highly enriched uranium? Wikipedia mentions 'research' I think.

Has the Iranian government ever explained why they are enriching uranium?

[wombatpm]

Their story is a desire to build reactors for when the oil runs out. Energy security

[dralley]

Nobody builds reactors with 60% enriched uranium

[Qem]

Well, if you have an expansionist apartheid state nearby, bent on seeking any pretense to sabotage or get your infrastructure air raided, higher enrichment factors would make much easier to safeguard fuel, given not high enough to easily cause a criticality incident.

Say you have 10 ton of 2.5% enriched uranium to safeguard. If you turn it to 60% HEU, now you have only ~400kg of fuel to safeguard against air raids. Density of uranium is ~19 ton/m³, so that would correspond to just 21 liters of HEU, one bucket worth, what would make it very easy to transport and hide. That would make it possible to split it and store in safe locations, for example, inside some deep boreholes, far apart to each other, making it impervious to attack, for the duration of hostilities. Once they pass, it can be recovered and diluted back to 2.5% with natural uranium, reconstituting your original 10-ton fuel amount.

[uhhhd]

or.... they were in the process of building bombs. (or what you said, but probably bombs).

[wombatpm]

That’s what their story is.

[jiggawatts]

You only need 5% enriched for that.