The Iran Nuclear Program thread

[taiwan_girl]

Im sure that it will take some time to know how much damage was done. I am not sure I would believe anything coming from the Iran officials right now.

The United States obtained intercepted communication between senior Iranian officials discussing this month’s U.S. military strikes on Iran’s nuclear program and remarking that the attack was less devastating than they had expected, said four people familiar with the classified intelligence circulating within the U.S. government.

The communication, intended to be private, included Iranian government officials speculating as to why the strikes directed by President Donald Trump were not as destructive and extensive as they had anticipated, these people said. Like some others, they spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/06/29/trump-iran-nuclear-damage-intercepted-call/

[Mik]

Nah. Nothing unconfirmed out of Tehran is credible on its face. But I would not be a bit surprised if it were true.

[jon-nyc]

Could it be?

[jon-nyc]

[Mik]

That would be one hell of an Independence Day present.

[Axtremus]

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/05/world/middleeast/ayatollah-khamenei-iran-israel.html

"Khamenei Appears in Public for First Time Since Israel War Began"

[jon-nyc]

Open letter from Gallant to the Ayatollah

https://generalyoavgallant.substack.com/p/a-letter-from-general-gallant-to?utm_campaign=posts-open-in-app&triedRedirect=true

[Tom-K]

Damn, I hope General Gallant never writes me a letter.

[Mik]

That pretty much sums it up.

[bachophile]

I once sat near him at a wedding of a mutual acquaintance. The guy is built like a tank.

[Mik]

That’s right in line with my mental picture of him.

[jon-nyc]

[jon-nyc]

Deja vu all over again?

[Mik]

So he’s gonna blow himself up? I hear they like a good martyr

[jon-nyc]

An Iranian goes back for a visit and records his observations. Interesting throughout.

[Mik]

Interesting observations. I have to think the mullahs are on their last legs. They’ve brought the country little but misery when they could be quite affluent.

[Doctor Phibes]

@Mik said in The Iran Nuclear Program thread:

I have to think the mullahs are on their last legs.

It seems like people have been saying that for the last 20 years. Hopefully it will be true at some point.

[Renauda]

The mullahs support base is outside Tehran among the rural peasantry and small towns. Those were the Iranians who supported Khomeni’s counterrevolution in 1979 and have kept the mullahs in power ever since. I really don’t see that base breaking from the theocracy anytime soon. The young Iranian intelligentsia in Tehran is in no better a position than it was twenty or more years ago when it challenged the peasant supported mullahs.

[jon-nyc]

Round 2? (Or would that be round 7,456?)