[parineum]

> We had a diplomatic agreement that worked, nuked it for no gain, and now there isn’t a viable way to influence Iran.

I see this repeateded a lot but it doesn't follow to me that the facility that was bombed in midnight hammer was created and begun operating after that agreement was cancelled. It seems clear to me that Iran never stopped using that facility.

It seems to me that Iran's goal is to develop a nuclear weapon and there isn't a piece of paper that will stop them. I don't really fault them, it's a very sane thing to do to secure your border a la North Korea.

I'm not sure there is a non-military way to influence Iran to not develop a nuclear weapon.

[watwut]

Iran was entitled to have radio active materia. Pretty much everyone involved says they followed the contract.

[parineum]

Who is "everyone involved"? Iran and the Obama administration?

What was bombed in that secret mountain base? Why keep it a secret?

[manyaoman]

The audacity of Iran building a bunker and not keeping us in the loop about what's going on inside.

[orwin]

That facility was a nuclear research facility for civilian, military and medical use. Note that military doesn't mean weapons. Iran getting nuclear submarine would increase their threat level. In any case, Iran have a fatwa against developing nuclear bombs (a fatwa is a law edicted by a religious leader, and not respecting it would make you sinful and rebellious, and in a theocratic regime, often end in prison). The fatwa isn't reversed yet afaik, but the US killed the mufti who declared it, so I don't know how it applies.

But anybody saying Iran was working on a bomb is probably misinformed or lying imho.

[stale2002]

There isn't a non-military, non bomb use for the amount of Uranium that Iran was enriching up to the levels that they were doing so.

All the things that you talked about do not require doing what Iran was doing. Meaning that... the only motivation left would be the 1 single thing that does require that much enrichment to those levels.

Hitting this from another angle, it doesn't make any strategic sense as for why Iran would sacrifice all that it is throwing away, just to get some medical research benefits. That would be a poor deal, and Iran isn't stupid.