Jerusulem Post: Report of blast at Iran nuke facility unconfirmed

[Laura PourMeADrink]

http://www.jpost.com/IranianThreat/News/Article.aspx?id=301184

According to former Iranian Revolutionary Guard report, explosion at Fordow destroyed much of the instillation; remains unverified. A report claiming that a mysterious blast rocked the Fordow uranium enrichment facility in Iran last week made headlines in Israel on Sunday, but remained unverified. According to the report, penned by former Iranian Revolutionary Guard, Reza Kahlili, for the WND.com website, the explosion “destroyed much of the installation and trapped about 240 personnel deep underground.”

Kahlili, who says he turned CIA agent in the 1980s and 90s, cited a “source in the security forces protecting Fordow” as saying that the blast occurred last Monday at Fordow, which is located deep inside a mountain to protect it from aerial attack.

“The blast shook facilities within a radius of three miles. Security forces have enforced a no-traffic radius of 15 miles, and the Tehran- Qom highway was shut down for several hours after the blast,” the report added.

The existence of the Fordow enrichment plant was kept secret by Iran, until it was discovered by Western intelligence in 2009, and the question of how long it had been in operation remains unanswered.

Emily Landau, director of the Arms Control and Regional Security Project at the Tel Aviv-based Institute for National Security Studies, noted on Sunday that Iran is enriching uranium to 20 percent at Fordow, “and it raises concerns because it is buried deep in a mountain.”

She added, “There have been many references to the fact that Israel doesn’t have strong enough bombs to penetrate it from the air, but the US MOP [massive ordnance penetrator] is reported to be able to penetrate it.”

Landau added that reports surfaced six months ago saying that the MOP is operational.

The shutting down of Fordow is one of the three demands made on Iran by the P5+1 nations during talks with the Islamic Republic.

According to a 2011 IAEA report, Iran is testing detonators for nuclear blasts at its secret base in Parchin, and has refused to allow UN inspectors access to the site.

[marybourg]

1. Times of Israel say blast is "confirmed."

Israeli officials confirm blast at Iranian nuclear facility

Report cites intelligence sources who say Iran hasn’t evacuated area around Fordo plant; unclear if explosion was ‘sabotage or accident’

http://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-intelligence-confirms-blast-at-iranian-nuclear-facility/

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. Times of Israel is a far right site

http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/who-spread-reports-of-an-explosion-at-iran-s-fordow-nuclear-plant-and-why.premium-1.496726

Worth the background on this.

[LeftInTX]

2. Jerusalem Post obtained their info from WND.com

Big time conspiracy theory, birther site.

I don't know how credible this is.

[Purveyor]

3. Haaretz: Who spread reports of an 'explosion' at Iran's Fordow nuclear plant and why?

The Internet has been abuzz over the last couple of days with an uncorroborated report regarding a huge explosion in the underground uranium enrichment plant at Fordow in Iran. According to the report, the explosion seriously damaged many of the centrifuges in the plant and trapped underground 240 employees who have yet to be rescued.

If this is true, it will be the most serious sabotage caused yet to the Iranian nuclear program. If this is true.

The main problem with the report is that no supporting evidence has appeared so far from any reliable sources to corroborate it, nor has a statements been released from an official source in Iran or any other country. All the main Western news organizations with contacts and sources in the intelligence community have steered well away from the story. (In Israel, only the tabloid Yedioth Ahronoth, which splashed the story on the front page of its Sunday edition, took notice of the story.)

Perhaps it’s the identity of the report's author which leads to the disbelief: Reza Kahlili, an Iranian exile with an interesting past who is well known to many reporters covering intelligence and Iranian affairs. He published the report on the explosion, which apparently took place on Monday, the eve of the Israeli elections, on World News Daily, a veteran website with close contacts to the far-right in the United States. Kahlili himself is a frequent speaker at events organized by right-wing organizations and those that support the right in Israel. It's not hard to realize why. In an interview he gave Haaretz two years ago, upon the publication of his book "A Time To Betray", Kalili set out a worldview on Iran that was surprisingly similar to that of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He also compared the regime in Tehran to that of the Nazis, and called upon Israel to bomb Iran's nuclear installations.

MORE...

http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. According to haaretz this is coming through Word Net Daily

And only the right wing media is even carrying this in Israel.

Hell not even the fantasy site known as Debka Files is carrying this.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

10. Israel National News: Iran has denied explosion happened

Underground Nuclear Facility
Iran has denied reports about an explosion at its underground Fordo nuclear plant, saying they are "Western propaganda."

By Elad Benari
First Publish: 1/28/2013, 4:42 AM

According to a report in the Iranian IRNA news agency, the deputy head of the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization, Seyyed Shamseddin Barbroudi, said on Sunday that that there has been no explosion whatsoever in the Fordo nuclear facility.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/164635#.UQX_879EF2A

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. It did not happen

The story is also a week old.

Israeli national news is not an organ of the government either.

An easy way to know, government sites across the world do not use the .com at the end in the domain name. .com is commercial.

This, on the other hand, is an official government site

http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA

Ministry of foreign affairs...they also run the short wave news service.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

12. Thanks. I know the original claim was a week old - but these articles

have today's date on them....as the story unravels.

The whole thing is very mysterious, don't you think?

[nadinbrzezinski]

13. Given that only the RW news sphere is biting

And that even Debka is staying away, it comes down to one person who has no credibility. And for the record, Debka is good for creative writers every where. We should have been at war with Iran at least five times over the last ten years if you took them at their word.

Hell, we even put RT for a while, nope, not even a whisper.

And if this was western sabotage, it's an act of war.

Neocons are desperate for a war with Iran, and so is the Israeli RW. It reminds me of "Remember the Maine" to be honest.

It might be a case of the kid that cried wolf, but somehow I don't think this story is based on any realty.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

17. Thanks for sharing your knowledge ! Always enjoy reading your posts ! nt

[longship]

6. You cannot keep weapons grade enrichment secret.

The technology is complex, even with today's tech. It certainly cannot be hidden with today's satellite tech. Nuke power reactors do not, on their own, make weapons grade uranium, let alone plutonium.

The enrichment process to weapon grade is complex, and requires significant resources. No country could hide such a process from a country like the USA.

That's the basic physics and chemistry.

I think that the US knows exactly what is going on in Iran, and in North Korea.

The A-bomb still has secrets. It isn't easy to make one in spite of what you've been led to believe.

Physics still isn't easy. Thank goodness for that.

[sabbat hunter]

7. if they were testing

detonators and one went off by accident or 'accident', it could cause quite an explosion and not release radioactive material.

[nadinbrzezinski]

8. And CNN would be on scary Muzak and breaking nooz

The only ones biting are the are right American media (WND) and the Israeli far right media.

Oh, story is a week old.

Though I admit, yediot ahronot is down right hysterical.

[longship]

9. It's not the "detonator" it's the "initiator".

It's the gizmo that supplies the couple of neutrons to begin the chain reaction which have to happen so precisely that a neutron from a cosmic ray would never, ever trigger the bomb in time before the assembly blew itself apart before detonation. In other words, a dud.

The initiator is one of the secrets. You've got micro -- maybe nano -- seconds to both assemble the super-critical mass and simultaneously supply a couple of neutrons of the correct energy to get the chain reaction started. Without both happening simultaneously in a very small time frame, you do not have an A-bomb.

Basic physics, but engineering hell. That's what keeps nuke weapons out of hands of countries which shouldn't have them.

And nobody can hide weapons grade enrichment from the US. The necessary resources are too large, even today, especially with US's technology.

[Javaman]

14. Probably one of the most concise and still clearly explained

answered I have ever encountered regarding this topic.

Thank you.

[longship]

15. Wow! Thank you. I try. nt

[loli phabay]

16. yup a good explanation

[cthulu2016]

18. Jerusulem Post is not a credible source