Meanwhile, all "necessary" options are being considered:- "Iran’s hard-to-attack underground nuke facility part of increasing threat Think tank report says Iran exploited JCPOA loopholes at Fordow" "Iran’s hard-to-attack underground Fordow nuclear facility is part of the increasing nuclear threat the country presents as it steadily escalates its violations of the 2015 nuclear deal, a new think tank report says.According to the report by the Institute for Science and International Security, “Fordow is potentially part of Iran’s current threats to progressively go to higher enrichment levels and increase its stocks of enriched uranium.”Iran’s hard-to-attack underground Fordow nuclear facility is part of the increasing nuclear threat the country presents as it steadily escalates its violations of the 2015 nuclear deal, a new think tank report says.According to the report by the Institute for Science and International Security, “Fordow is potentially part of Iran’s current threats to progressively go to higher enrichment levels and increase its stocks of enriched uranium.” The report cites multiple Iranian officials who discussed increasing the level of uranium enrichment to 20% specifically at Fordow.Though Tehran’s increasing its uranium enrichment level from 3.67% to 5% did not move it much closer to having enough uranium for a nuclear bomb, an increase to 20% would substantially shorten the break-out time.Not only that, but if Israel, the US or their allies decided it was necessary to strike aspects of the Islamic republic’s nuclear program to prevent it from obtaining a nuclear weapon, they would face difficulties since Fordow’s underground tunnel complex is fortified to withstand most aerial bombardments, says the report.There has been an ongoing but unresolved debate since around 2011 about what capabilities the US or Israel have to potentially destroy an underground facility like Fordow.One aspect of the debate connects to the question of whether the US would be willing to provide Israel with “bunker-buster” bombs, designed to penetrate deep underground or whether even some of Israel’s newer bombs might penetrate deep enough to do the job.The US has traditionally refused to give Israel “bunker busters,” but some believe the Trump administration might be more willing to and former CIA director Michael Hayden has previously told The Jerusalem Post that such a move might be necessary."https://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Iran-News/Irans-hard-to-attack-underground-nuke-facility-part-of-increasing-threat-595374
David Ainsworth ● 2677d