[jameshilliard]

> it was never about nuclear weapons

The only reason to enrich uranium to 60% like Iran was doing is for nuclear weapons purposes.

[tsimionescu]

That's not the point. The point is that the attacks on Iran are not about the nuclear weapons. Iran entered the JCPOA and complied with it, it had completely suspended any nuclear weapons program. But that didn't matter for Israel and their sycophants in US foreign policy, because for them the nuclear weapons program is at best only one part of the problem. Their real problem is that Iran is an independent state in the region that refuses to accept Israel's occupation of Gaza, the West Bank, and parts of Lebanon, and that refuses to comply with US policies more broadly.

Overall the goal is not to stop Iran's nuclear program, though that is part of it. The goal would be to install a government in Iran that is friendly to Israel and the USA, or, failing that, to completely destroy their economy and defense such that they effectively can't act outside their own borders.

[tome]

> Israel's occupation of ... parts of Lebanon

Which parts of Lebanon does Israel occupy?

[swingboy]

This. Everything going on is one step closer to Israeli dominance of the region and “Greater Israel”.

[Matl]

No, the reason is to have a deterrence so that Iran could say, 'hey, if you attack us we'll develop nukes'.

By the way, I am a lot more worried about Israel and its actual nuclear stockpile that has zero oversight.

[jameshilliard]

> By the way, I am a lot more worried about Israel and its actual nuclear stockpile that has zero oversight.

Iran regularly threatens to destroy Israel, the opposite is not the case.

[gryzzly]

Its good u have no say in whatever important.

[halflife]

And burying your facilities under a mountain is not suspect at all

[pydry]

Not especially. Their other facilities were being bombed routinely by Israel (along with infrastructure).

[pseingatl]

True. Medical needs require only a lower percentage. I don't know if Iran was planning any fission reactors.

[metalman]

there are many reasons to do nuclear research beyond medicine, for batteries like the ones powering the voyager space craft, nuclear reactors come in a wide variety of configurations, and many of them actualy produce more radioactive elements that then need to be managed. 60% is nothing,80% is nothing, it needs to be 93%++, and LOTS of it to build a bomb, and given the number of bombs already arrayed around Iran, they would need 100's and all the infrastructure to become a credible threat , for which they plainly dont have the money to afford. The wildly unpopular leaders going after Iran need a scapegoat, or rather a continious supply of scapegoats, but have failed to recognise that the world is moving past them.

[kyboren]

60% is actually very close to 93%. To go from natural uranium (<1% U235) to 60% represents the vast majority of the effort. From 60% to 93% is actually quite quick; most of the material is already U235. And they already have enough to build maybe a dozen bombs.

They also have (had?) a very active ballistic missile program, and have conducted implosion experiments.

The constellation of evidence is quite clear: Iran is a threshold nuclear state with all the pieces necessary to credibly threaten the region (and soon the US homeland) with nuclear weapons.