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tristanj 15 hours ago

The crisis exists because Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons. That's the root issue.

JCPOA was never a permanent solution. Under JCPOA, Iran agreed to temporarily cap enrichment for 15 years until 2030. After which, Iran could enrich freely.

JCPOA had no extension framework, the deal could not be extended without being renegotiated. And Iranian officials refused to agree to permanent enrichment caps, they said the 15-year sunset on enrichment was a non-negotiable.

Hikikomori 36 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

Not gonna bring up that the US is now paying Iran 25B + who knows how much in reparations? Weird how you forget this important talking point of yours.

blactuary 14 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

The experience of the last 10 years with these dingbats in charge is an incentive for every country to pursue their own nukes

kelnos 11 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> The crisis exists because Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons.

The US's own intelligence agencies said they weren't, though.

tristanj 7 hours ago | parent [-]

That's a badly misleading framing of the situation.

The U.S. intelligence community said for more than a year that Iran was weeks away from enriching uranium further to bomb grade, said Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association.

"That is extremely worrisome but that is not weeks away from having a nuclear weapon and not weeks away from having a nuclear weapon that can be loaded on a nuclear missile," Kimball said.

"My understanding from non-governmental sources and the internal assessment of the (intelligence community) is that they believe it would take several months or more to fashion the highly enriched uranium bomb grade into a nuclear device, and one to two years to manufacture a small light nuclear device," Kimball said.

https://www.politifact.com/article/2025/jun/23/Tulsi-Gabbard...

throaway23663 15 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

So you're saying all of this shit is a because we could not renegotiate a deal... which is to end in 2030? As if there was no more time to wait?

hypeatei 15 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

> The crisis exists because Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons

According to whom? I know there's one country who says Iran is two weeks away from nuclear weapons, but who else?

tristanj 15 hours ago | parent [-]

According to Ali Motahari, a former member of the parliament of Iran. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_Motahari

Former Iranian Majles member Ali Motahari said in an April 24, 2022 interview on ISCA News (Iran) that when Iran began developing its nuclear program, the goal was to build a nuclear bomb. He said that there is no need to beat around the bush, and that the bomb would have been used as a "means of intimidation" in accordance with a Quranic verse about striking "fear in the hearts of the enemies of Allah."

"When we began our nuclear activity, our goal was indeed to build a bomb,” former Iranian politician Ali Motahari told ISCA News. “There is no need to beat around the bush,” he said.

When asked if saying this publicly will negatively affect the ongoing JCPOA negotiations, Motahari answered: "Nobody notices what I am saying."

https://www.memri.org/tv/former-iranian-majles-member-motaha...

https://www.iranintl.com/en/202204245312

hypeatei 14 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> a former member of the parliament of Iran

He wasn't a member at the time of those statements nor did he have any involvement in their nuclear program. That's misleading to say the least.

Ali Motahari—former member of Iran’s Parliament—clarified that the interview dates back to May 2022, when he neither held a parliamentary seat nor any official role in nuclear affairs.[0]

So besides a single guy in Iran, are there official delegations that have concluded Iran was developing nuclear weapons? The US has had two National Intelligence Estimates, which consists of all 18 agencies in the intelligence community, conclude that they were not developing nukes.

0: https://wanaen.com/trump-shares-old-ali-motahari-interview-o...

tristanj 14 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> "conclude that they were not developing nukes."

You're misreading your own sources. The 2007 NIE and Gabbard's 2025 testimony both describe a nuclear weapons program that Iran "suspended in 2003". They confirm a nuclear weapons program existed, the opposite of what you're claiming.

And you want an official source: the IAEA concluded in May 2025 that Iran ran an "undeclared structured nuclear program" until the early 2000s using undeclared material. Then it found Iran in formal non-compliance in June of last year.

"Not building a warhead today" and "never pursued weapons" are different claims, and you swapped one for the other.

https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/statements/iaea-director-gen...

hypeatei 13 hours ago | parent [-]

I never swapped claims. We're talking about nuclear weapons and why the US started a war with Iran this year due to this supposed "crisis" (in your words) but there's no evidence that a threat is imminent. The NIEs were just one data point against your claim; the burden is still on you to show who else agrees with the assesment that this is a crisis.

> IAEA concluded in May 2025 that Iran ran an "undeclared structured nuclear program" until the early 2000s

"nuclear program" is not the same as a weapons program and the IAEA sounding alarm bells over policy violations is not a conclusion that Iran is/was on a nuclear warpath.

tristanj 12 hours ago | parent [-]

Name the civilian use for Iran's 440 kg of 60% enriched uranium. There isn't one. No power reactor uses it (those run on 3-5%), no research reactor needs it (~20% max), and it sits 98-99% of the way enriched weapons-grade. Iran has enough fissile material for multiple bombs with under two weeks of further enrichment. There is no civilian use for this material. Iran enriched this material, under a mountain, in violation of IAEA requirements, at a site it hid from IAEA investigators until it got caught lying, while stonewalling compliance investigators for years.

Even your own source, the 2025 Annual Threat Assessment report, states: "Iran's enriched uranium stockpile is at its highest levels and is unprecedented for a state without nuclear weapons."

What's your justification for Iran producing this material, if not for a nuclear weapons program?

kelnos 11 hours ago | parent [-]

Did that 2025 assessment conclude that Iran was building toward a nuclear weapon, or didn't it?

tristanj 9 hours ago | parent [-]

The 2025 unclassified report does not assess that, but the 2024 one did. Money quote:

Iran has greatly expanded its nuclear program, reduced IAEA monitoring, and undertaken activities that better position it to produce a nuclear device, if it chooses to do so.

Also, that 2025 unclassified report was released before the June 2025 enrichment numbers I shared; these numbers would have influenced the report, and you dodged the question:

What's your justification for Iran producing 440kg of highly enriched 60% material, in secret deep under a mountain in violation of IAEA agreements, if not for a nuclear weapons program?

defrost 14 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

For unrelated reasons I personally don't believe Iran was ever pursuing a nuclear weapon, just edging enrichment for leverage.

That said, this:

  The US has had two National Intelligence Estimates, which consists of all 18 agencies in the intelligence community, conclude that they were not developing nukes.
has little weight given these were / are the same US intell agencies that were blindsided and caught pants down unaware and in the dark about the 1998 India / Pakistan nuclear test exchange.
throaway23663 15 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

> MEMRI was co-founded by Israeli ex-intelligence officer Yigal Carmon and Israeli-American political scientist Meyrav Wurmser in 1998.

Well that's convenient, isn't it.

tristanj 15 hours ago | parent [-]

You're trying hard to discredit this, but that fails here. The interview in question was conduced by ISCA News, an Iranian state-run media agency.