Iran tested advanced nuclear warhead design

American · 11-06-09, 12:06 PM

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Julian Borger, diplomatic editor guardian.co.uk, Thursday 5 November 2009 20.45 GMT

An Iranian long-range Shahab-3 missile being fired at an unspecified location. Photograph: Press TV/AFP/Getty Images

The UN's nuclear watchdog has asked Iran to explain evidence suggesting that Iranian scientists have experimented with an advanced nuclear warhead design, the Guardian has learned.
The very existence of the technology, known as a "two-point implosion" device, is officially secret in both the US and Britain, but according to previously unpublished documentation in a dossier compiled by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Iranian scientists may have tested high-explosive components of the design. The development was today described by nuclear experts as "breathtaking" and has added urgency to the effort to find a diplomatic solution to the Iranian nuclear crisis.
The sophisticated technology, once mastered, allows for the production of smaller and simpler warheads than older models. It reduces the diameter of a warhead and makes it easier to put a nuclear warhead on a missile.
Documentation referring to experiments testing a two-point detonation design are part of the evidence of nuclear weaponisation gathered by the IAEA and presented to Iran for its response.
The dossier, titled "Possible Military Dimensions of Iran's Nuclear Program", is drawn in part from reports submitted to it by western intelligence agencies.
The agency has in the past treated such reports with scepticism, particularly after the Iraq war. But its director general, Mohamed ElBaradei, has said the evidence of Iranian weaponisation "appears to have been derived from multiple sources over different periods of time, appears to be generally consistent, and is sufficiently comprehensive and detailed that it needs to be addressed by Iran".
Extracts from the dossier have been published previously, but it was not previously known that it included documentation on such an advanced warhead. "It is breathtaking that Iran could be working on this sort of material," said a European government adviser on nuclear issues.
James Acton, a British nuclear weapons expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said: "It's remarkable that, before perfecting step one, they are going straight to step four or five ... To start with more sophisticated designs speaks of level of technical ambition that is surprising."
Another western specialist with extensive knowledge of the Iranian programme said: "It raises the question of who supplied this to them. Did AQ Khan [a Pakistani scientist who confessed in 2004 to running a nuclear smuggling ring] have access to this, or is it another player?"

You know there were a lot of people around here defending Iran's right to have nukes, because the US and others have nukes. In light of this development, are you standing pat? I find this sense of fairness disturbing.

kaya'08 · 11-09-09, 11:16 AM

Fairness doesnt apply to countries hell bent on the destruction of others.

TacticalEvilDan · 11-09-09, 11:21 AM

Let me give you a guys a preview of the world after Iran has nukes:

United States: Do this or we'll send in the Marines.

Iran: No, you won't.

United States: Um, yeah, we will.

Iran: No, you won't.

United States: Marines. Big scary guys with guns. Go boom-boom.

Iran: Nuclear warheads. Make no noise. Fry your ass.

United States: Aw, damn, forgot about those. Look, could you at least stop saying mean things about Israel?

Iran: Only if you buy my oil for more than $70 per barrel.

United States: No.

Iran: Damn.

Praetor · 11-18-09, 11:06 PM

Especially in response to poster #2, how is this any different than the cold war? We have far more nuclear weapons than Iran, thus we pose an even greater threat to them than they would to us, even if they had access to a vaster nuclear weapons program.

Arch Enemy · 11-18-09, 11:17 PM

I stuck on how it is a Secret report

11-09-09, 11:16 AM	#2
kaya'08 Euro Realist Join Date: Nov 2008 Last Seen: Today 08:19 AM Location: British Turk Posts: 3,507 Thanks: 1,788 Thanked 666 Times in 503 Posts Lean: Liberal Gender:	Re: Iran tested advanced nuclear warhead design – secret report Fairness doesnt apply to countries hell bent on the destruction of others.
	__________________ EU the most racist, authotarian institution since 1945

11-09-09, 11:21 AM	#3
TacticalEvilDan DCKRIDN YUR TARDZ Join Date: Feb 2008 Last Seen: 02-07-10 09:21 PM Location: Upstate NY Posts: 2,287 Thanks: 710 Thanked 715 Times in 452 Posts Gender:	Re: Iran tested advanced nuclear warhead design – secret report Let me give you a guys a preview of the world after Iran has nukes: United States: Do this or we'll send in the Marines. Iran: No, you won't. United States: Um, yeah, we will. Iran: No, you won't. United States: Marines. Big scary guys with guns. Go boom-boom. Iran: Nuclear warheads. Make no noise. Fry your ass. United States: Aw, damn, forgot about those. Look, could you at least stop saying mean things about Israel? Iran: Only if you buy my oil for more than $70 per barrel. United States: No. Iran: Damn.
	__________________ DURKA DURKA JIHAD "No man is good enough to govern another man without that other's consent." -- Abraham Lincoln

11-18-09, 11:06 PM	#4
Praetor User Join Date: Nov 2009 Last Seen: 11-18-09 11:27 PM Posts: 7 Thanks: 0 Thanked 4 Times in 1 Post Lean: Liberal	Re: Iran tested advanced nuclear warhead design – secret report Especially in response to poster #2, how is this any different than the cold war? We have far more nuclear weapons than Iran, thus we pose an even greater threat to them than they would to us, even if they had access to a vaster nuclear weapons program.

11-18-09, 11:17 PM	#5
Arch Enemy Familiaist Join Date: Mar 2005 Last Seen: Today 08:52 AM Location: North Carolina Posts: 6,248 Thanks: 469 Thanked 1,510 Times in 941 Posts Lean: Slightly Conservative Gender: Total Awards: 1	Re: Iran tested advanced nuclear warhead design – secret report I stuck on how it is a Secret report
	__________________ "I do not underestimate the ability of fanatical groups of terrorists to kill and destroy, but they do not threaten the life of the nation. Whether we would survive Hitler hung in the balance, but there is no doubt that we shall survive al-Qa'ida." -- Lord Hoffmann

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