‘Do you want the answer?': Putin loses cool over Iran's Khamenei ‘assassination' threat question

Russian President Vladimir Putin firmly refused to discuss the possibility of the United States and Israel assassinating Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Putin stated that the Iranian people were rallying around their leadership in Tehran, even as Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu hints at regime change and US President Donald Trump claims to know Khamenei's exact location.
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First Post

13 minutes ago

• First Post

How is uranium enrichment used to make nuclear bombs?

Israel targeted Iran's nuclear facilities at Natanz, Isfahan, and Fordow, killing several scientists. These sites are crucial for uranium enrichment, a process that is used to produce nuclear power but can be exploited to make nuclear weapons. How does it work? read more Natanz and Fordow are Iran's uranium enrichment sites, and Isfahan provides the raw materials, so any damage to these sites would limit Iran's ability to produce nuclear weapons. Image for Representation. Reuters Late last week, Israel targeted three of Iran's key nuclear facilities – Natanz, Isfahan and Fordow, killing several Iranian nuclear scientists. The facilities are heavily fortified and largely underground, and there are conflicting reports of how much damage has been done. Natanz and Fordow are Iran's uranium enrichment sites, and Isfahan provides the raw materials, so any damage to these sites would limit Iran's ability to produce nuclear weapons. But what exactly is uranium enrichment and why does it raise concerns? STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD To understand what it means to 'enrich' uranium, you need to know a little about uranium isotopes and about splitting the atom in a nuclear fission reaction. What is an isotope? All matter is made of atoms, which in turn are made up of protons, neutrons and electrons. The number of protons is what gives atoms their chemical properties, setting apart the various chemical elements. Atoms have equal numbers of protons and electrons. Uranium has 92 protons, for example, while carbon has six. However, the same element can have different numbers of neutrons, forming versions of the element called isotopes. This hardly matters for chemical reactions, but their nuclear reactions can be wildly different. Uranium-238 vs Uranium-235 When we dig uranium out of the ground, 99.27 per cent of it is uranium-238, which has 92 protons and 146 neutrons. Only 0.72 per cent of it is uranium-235 with 92 protons and 143 neutrons (the remaining 0.01 per cent are other isotopes). For nuclear power reactors or weapons, we need to change the isotope proportions. That's because of the two main uranium isotopes, only uranium-235 can support a fission chain reaction: one neutron causes an atom to fission, which produces energy and some more neutrons, causing more fission, and so on. This chain reaction releases a tremendous amount of energy. In a nuclear weapon, the goal is to have this chain reaction occur in a fraction of a second, producing a nuclear explosion. A nuclear power plant. Image for Representation. Pixabay In a civilian nuclear power plant, the chain reaction is controlled. Nuclear power plants currently produce 9 per cent of the world's power. Another vital civilian use of nuclear reactions is for producing isotopes used in nuclear medicine for the diagnosis and treatment of various diseases. What is uranium enrichment? To 'enrich' uranium means taking the naturally found element and increasing the proportion of uranium-235 while removing uranium-238. There are a few ways to do this ( including new inventions from Australia), but commercially, enrichment is currently done with a centrifuge. This is also the case in Iran's facilities. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Centrifuges exploit the fact that uranium-238 is about 1 per cent heavier than uranium-235. They take uranium (in gas form) and use rotors to spin it at 50,000 to 70,000 rotations per minute, with the outer walls of the centrifuges moving at 400 to 500 metres per second. Commercially, enrichment is currently done with a centrifuge. File image/ Reuters This works much like a salad spinner that throws water to the sides while the salad leaves stay in the centre. The heavier uranium-238 moves to the edges of the centrifuge, leaving the uranium-235 in the middle. This is only so effective, so the spinning process is done over and over again, building up the percentage of the uranium-235. Most civilian nuclear reactors use 'low enriched uranium' that's been enriched to between 3 per cent and 5 per cent. This means that 3–5% of the total uranium in the sample is now uranium-235. That's enough to sustain a chain reaction and make electricity. How does enrichment make nuclear weapons? To get an explosive chain reaction, uranium-235 needs to be concentrated significantly more than the levels we use in nuclear reactors for making power or medicines. Technically, a nuclear weapon can be made with as little as 20 per cent uranium-235 (known as 'highly enriched uranium'), but the more the uranium is enriched, the smaller and lighter the weapon can be. Countries with nuclear weapons tend to use about 90 per cent enriched, 'weapons-grade' uranium. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Iran has enriched large quantities of uranium to 60 per cent. It's actually easier to go from an enrichment of 60 per cent to 90 per cent than it is to get to that initial 60 per cent. That's because there's less and less uranium-238 to get rid of. This is why Iran is considered to be at extreme risk of producing nuclear weapons, and why centrifuge technology for enrichment is kept secret. Ultimately, the exact same centrifuge technology that produces fuel for civilian reactors can be used to produce nuclear weapons. Inspectors from the IAEA monitor nuclear facilities worldwide to ensure countries are abiding by the rules set out in the global nuclear non-proliferation treaty. While Iran maintains it's only enriching uranium for 'peaceful purposes', late last week the IAEA board ruled Iran was in breach of its obligations under the treaty. Kaitlin Cook, DECRA Fellow, Department of Nuclear Physics and Accelerator Applications, Australian National University STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

NDTV

17 minutes ago

• NDTV

Iran's Arak Reactor, Hit By Israeli Strike, Was Part Of Tehran's Nuclear Deal

Dubai: Much of the focus on Iran's nuclear program has been on Tehran's enrichment of uranium, but experts also keep a close watch on the Islamic Republic's Arak heavy water reactor. That's because the facility, some 250 kilometers (155 miles) southwest of Tehran, could produce plutonium, which can be used to make an atomic bomb. Israel pointed to just that concern when it launched airstrikes Thursday on the reactor, following its attacks on other Iranian nuclear sites, including the Nantanz enrichment facility, centrifuge workshops near Tehran, and laboratories in Isfahan. Iran acknowledged the strikes, saying at least two projectiles slammed into the compound, without giving any specifics about damage. Never online, the reactor had no uranium fuel and saw no nuclear release from the strike. However, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations' nuclear watchdog, has warned repeatedly that such sites - whether in Iran or Ukraine - should not be military targets. Arak grew out of Iran's onetime military nuclear program After Iran's devastating 1980s war with Iraq, it began a secret military program to seek a nuclear weapon and approached four nations to purchase a heavy water-moderated reactor. After getting turned down, Iran decided to build its own. Heavy water is water in which hydrogen is replaced by deuterium and is used as a coolant for heavy water reactors. The reactors can be used for scientific purposes, but plutonium is a byproduct of the process. Before the centrifuge technology that enriches uranium to levels high enough for use in weapons became widespread, many states used heavy water reactors to pursue plutonium-fueled bombs. India and Pakistan, both nuclear-armed states, have heavy water reactors, as does Israel, which has never acknowledged having atomic weapons but is widely believed to have them. Though Iran ultimately embraced uranium-enriching centrifuges as the main driver of its program, it built the reactor, which never went online. Iran has long maintained its program is for peaceful purposes. However, it also had been enriching uranium up to 60%, a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%. Iran was the only non-nuclear-weapon state to enrich at that level. Arak was part of Iran's nuclear deal with world powers Iran agreed under its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers to redesign the facility to alleviate proliferation concerns. That included pouring concrete into part of it, though the overall work never was completed. The Arak reactor became a point of contention after US President Donald Trump withdrew from the nuclear deal in 2018. Ali Akbar Salehi, a high-ranking nuclear official in Iran, claimed on Iranian state television in 2019 that Tehran bought extra parts to replace the portion of the reactor into which officials poured concrete. Due to restrictions Iran has imposed on inspectors, the IAEA has said it lost "continuity of knowledge" about Iran's heavy water production - meaning it could not absolutely verify Tehran's production and stockpile. Israeli strike likely heavily damaged the inert reactor On Thursday morning, Israel carried out an airstrike on the reactor. Black-and-white footage of the strike it released showed a bomb dropping on its dome and sending up a massive plume of fire and smoke. The U.N. nuclear watchdog noted that since it was not in operation and contained no nuclear material, there was no danger to the public after the strike from any "radiological effects." The IAEA said it had no information on whether the facility nearby where heavy water is produced had been hit. Israel's military said its fighter jets targeted the Arak facility and its reactor core seal to halt it from being used to produce plutonium. "The strike targeted the component intended for plutonium production, in order to prevent the reactor from being restored and used for nuclear weapons development," the Israelis said.

Economic Times

18 minutes ago

• Economic Times

Iranian missile strikes Israel's 'crown jewel of science'

AP While no one was killed in the strike on the Weizmann Institute of Science early Sunday, it caused heavy damage to multiple labs on campus, snuffing out years of scientific research and sending a chilling message to Israeli scientists that they and their expertise are now targets in the escalating conflict with Iran. For years, Israel has targeted Iranian nuclear scientists, hoping to choke progress on Iran's nuclear program by striking at the brains behind it. Now, with Iran and Israel in an open-ended direct conflict, scientists in Israel have found themselves in the crosshairs after an Iranian missile struck a premier research institute known for its work in life sciences and physics, among other fields. While no one was killed in the strike on the Weizmann Institute of Science early Sunday, it caused heavy damage to multiple labs on campus, snuffing out years of scientific research and sending a chilling message to Israeli scientists that they and their expertise are now targets in the escalating conflict with Iran. "It's a moral victory" for Iran, said Oren Schuldiner, a professor in the department of molecular cell biology and the department of molecular neuroscience whose lab was obliterated in the strike. "They managed to harm the crown jewel of science in Israel." Iranian scientists were a prime target in a long shadow war During years of a shadow war between Israel and Iran that preceded the current conflict, Israel repeatedly targeted Iranian nuclear scientists with the aim of setting back Iran's nuclear program. Israel continued that tactic with its initial blow against Iran days ago, killing multiple nuclear scientists, along with top generals, as well as striking nuclear facilities and ballistic missile infrastructure. For its part, Iran has been accused of targeting at least one Weizmann scientist before. Last year, Israeli authorities said they busted an Iranian spy ring that devised a plot to follow and assassinate an Israeli nuclear scientist who worked and lived at the institute. Citing an indictment, Israeli media said the suspects, Palestinians from east Jerusalem, gathered information about the scientist and photographed the exterior of the Weizmann Institute but were arrested before they could proceed. With Iran's intelligence penetration into Israel far less successful than Israel's, those plots have not been seen through, making this week's strike on Weizmann that much more jarring. "The Weizmann Institute has been in Iran's sights," said Yoel Guzansky, an Iran expert and senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies, a Tel Aviv think tank. He stressed that he did not know for certain whether Iran intended to strike the institute but believed it did. While it is a multidisciplinary research institute, Weizmann, like other Israeli universities, has ties to Israel's defense establishment, including collaborations with industry leaders like Elbit Systems, which is why it may have been targeted. But Guzansky said the institute primarily symbolizes "Israeli scientific progress" and the strike against it shows Iran's thinking: "You harm our scientists, so we are also harming (your) scientific cadre." Damage to the institute and labs 'literally decimated' Weizmann, founded in 1934 and later renamed after Israel's first president, ranks among the world's top research institutes. Its scientists and researchers publish hundreds of studies each year. One Nobel laureate in chemistry and three Turing Award laureates have been associated with the institute, which built the first computer in Israel in 1954. Two buildings were hit in the strike, including one housing life sciences labs and a second that was empty and under construction but meant for chemistry study, according to the institute. Dozens of other buildings were damaged. The campus has been closed since the strike, although media were allowed to visit Thursday. Large piles of rock, twisted metal and other debris were strewn on campus. There were shattered windows, collapsed ceiling panels and charred walls. A photo shared on X by one professor showed flames rising near a heavily damaged structure with debris scattered on the ground nearby. "Several buildings were hit quite hard, meaning that some labs were literally decimated, really leaving nothing," said Sarel Fleishman, a professor of biochemics who said he has visited the site since the strike. Life's work of many researchers is gone Many of those labs focus on the life sciences, whose projects are especially sensitive to physical damage, Fleishman said. The labs were studying areas like tissue generation, developmental biology or cancer, with much of their work now halted or severely set back by the damage. "This was the life's work of many people," he said, noting that years' or even decades' worth of research was destroyed. For Schuldiner, the damage means the lab he has worked at for 16 years "is entirely gone. No trace. There is nothing to save." In that once gleaming lab, he kept thousands of genetically modified flies used for research into the development of the human nervous system, which helped provide insights into autism and schizophrenia, he said. The lab housed equipment like sophisticated microscopes. Researchers from Israel and abroad joined hands in the study effort. "All of our studies have stopped," he said, estimating it would take years to rebuild and get the science work back on track. "It's very significant damage to the science that we can create and to the contribution we can make to the world."