Trump says he bombed Iran

[Vermilion]

Well, yes and no.  

Back in the years leading up to the JCPOA, it was clear to all of the major powers concerned--China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union that Iran was slowly but covertly and steadily working towards a nuclear weapons capability.  The entire reason that agreement was negotiated and signed was to prevent that from going any further because the stated policy of the US (and Israel) was that Iran would not be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons.  Obama and all of the Presidents before him were well aware of the cost and difficulty of having to prevent Iran from getting those kinds of weapons militarily.  Unlike Trump, all of those other Presidents were briefed on the consequences of closing the Strait of Hormuz and listened to those advisors.

So Obama decided to do it the cheap way instead of the expensive way.  That meant preventing Iran from progressing any farther than they already were and, in fact, rolling back their progress to the point where the time required to break out from their 20% enriched uranium to weapons grade and produce enough of it to make a few bombs would be long enough that large scale military operations with multiple allies could be organized and brought to bear on Iran.

And that's what the JCPOA achieved.  All of Iran's enriched uranium (20% enrichment) produced up to that point in time was accounted for and 95% of it was shipped out of the country. The remaining 20% enriched uranium was legitimately for medical isotope purposes. Two thirds of their enrichment centrifuges were either destroyed or placed in monitored storage. Their nuclear reactor was permanently modified so that it could not produce plutonium.  The whole situation was monitored by on site  round the clock electronic surveillance and periodic inspections by the International  Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).  When the IAEA finally certified that Iran was in full compliance with the agreement on Jan. 15, 2016, the next day Obama released the hold on the money that Iran had paid to the US for arms purchases in 1979 (before the Islamic Revolution) plus interest.  That totaled about $1.7 Billion. Essentially, Obama paid Iran to scale their nuclear program back from one that was on track to eventually produce nuclear weapons to one that was a legitimate civilian program.  MAGA pissed and moaned about that, but that is approximately 1/2 the amount that Trump and Hegseth burned through in the first day of Epic Fury.

During the first year of his first term in office, Trump himself twice certified that Iran was in compliance with the agreement. But in his second year in office, Trump unilaterally withdrew the US from the JCPOA calling it the "dumbest deal ever", and claiming he was going to replace it with something better.  Which he never did, of course.  So within about a year Iran decided that the JCPOA was no longer in effect, and they started enriching uranium again, eventually getting to the 60% level in April of 2021.  And it is true that the 60% level is not needed for medical purposes.  So you are correct (in my opinion) that Iran was back on a trajectory to obtain nuclear weapons before Trump bombed them last June.  

However, most of the important provisions of the JCPOA extended for 10 years, so Iran would still have had only 20% enriched uranium and a small number centrifuges last June, if Trump had not impulsively terminated the JCPOA.  

But he did, effectively putting us on course for the expensive solution.  The problem now is that Iran is going to be convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that they MUST develop nuclear weapons from whatever remains of their 60% enriched uranium buried in the rubble at Natanz and Fordow, as fast as they can. If Trump and Netanyahu don't stop that from happening, they will have spent hundreds of billions of dollars and not actually put Iran out of the nuclear weapon business.

You’re entitled to your own opinion, but not your own set of facts.
Under the first Trump Admin, even after we withdrew from the JCPOA, Iran had only 500 centrifuges and ZERO highly enriched uranium.

Then along comes Biden, who suspended sanctions enforcement.
Iranian oil sales skyrocket 5x, billions in blocked accounts are transfered to the regime, and Iran builds 15,000 centrifuges spinning out more than half a ton of highly enriched uranium.

Those are the facts.

[andy06shake]

I grew up in the UK, and earlier in Hong Kong.  So yeah, I know how they think of America.

Admiration and awe in the 80s and early 90s...

From the mid-90s till about 2020.

We kind of all got the same things, like malls, massive cinemas, and theme parks, hundreds of TV channels, and MTV... parity of sorts. LoL

So, pretty much indifferent, if still somewhat envious of your nation's impressiveness and grandeur.

And from about 2020 till the present day...

I've honestly not got a clue, i mean we still love your nation, and have family and friend connections that can never die...

But something is definitely off, just my opinion, others may vary. 

[CriticalStinker]

Good grief.  I just hope this firing was not so that Trump can go ahead with the Kharg Island nonsense.

Just fired two more generals, and Pam Bondi got fired today.

Pretty interesting to be firing generals before we're leaving conflict.

[cherokeetroy]

"Hegseth is removing 2 additional Army generals tonight: Gen. David Hodne, head of Transformation and Training Command, and Maj. Gen. William Green Jr., head of the chaplain corps -Washington Post"

https://x.com/Osinttechnical/status/2039...78725?s=20

[DBCowboy]

Admiration and awe in the 80s and early 90s...

From the mid-90s till about 2020.

We kind of all got the same things, like malls, massive cinemas, and theme parks, hundreds of TV channels, and MTV... parity of sorts. LoL

So, pretty much indifferent, if still somewhat envious of your nation's impressiveness and grandeur.

And from about 2020 till the present day...

I've honestly not got a clue, i mean we still love your nation, and have family and friend connections that can never die...

But something is definitely off, just my opinion, others may vary. 

If I could go back to 1980's UK, I'd be there in an instant.

They had balls then.

The whole country was tough.

Mad respect.

Back then.

[DBCowboy]

"Hegseth is removing 2 additional Army generals tonight: Gen. David Hodne, head of Transformation and Training Command, and Maj. Gen. William Green Jr., head of the chaplain corps -Washington Post"

https://x.com/Osinttechnical/status/2039...78725?s=20

Were they wearing dresses?

  ​​​​​​​

[cherokeetroy]

Were they wearing dresses?

 

That would be Kristi's husband

[andy06shake]

If I could go back to 1980's UK, I'd be there in an instant.

They had balls then.

The whole country was tough.

Mad respect.

Back then.

The 90s were my time DB.

Plenty of b@lls, but we also had the second summer of love aka no phones yet, just vibes, acid house, and techno...

Can't go back through, only forward...

Or so im led to believe. 

But back on topic i suppose, before i set a poor example.

[DBCowboy]

The 90s were my time DB.

Plenty of b@lls, but we also had the second summer of love aka no phones yet, just vibes, acid house, and techno...

Can't go back through, only forward...

Or so im led to believe. 

But back on topic i suppose, before i set a poor example.

You could smoke in a fekking pub! back then.

WTF!

[andy06shake]

You could smoke in a fekking pub! back then.

WTF!

LoL

I think people could smoke in hospital right up until the early 1970s.

Im apt to call those sorts of bans progress.

You can still smoke outside the pub, and in the beer gardens...

But we should return to the topic or the threads apt to be closed.