U.S. bombs Iranian nuclear sites • Hacker News Board

Re: U.S. bombs Iranian nuclear sites

#471

Post by GuardianCaveman » Sun, Jun 22, 2025, 5:39 AM UTC

tw04 wrote: post #467

tptacek wrote: post #23

I think Netanyahu belongs in prison, and Trump, the less said the better, but: couldn't have happened to a nicer unauthorized weapons-grade uranium enrichment facility dug into the side of a mountain hours outside of population centers. If you haven't already, I highly recommend reading up on the GBU-57 "bunker buster" bomb, because it is some Merrie Melodies Acme brand munitions. It's deliberately as heavy as they c…

All it did was prove to Iran they need nuclear weapons. There’s one thing every country knows and it’s that the only way you don’t become the target of Russia, the US, or Israel is to maintain a nuclear arsenal. We couldn’t stop North Korea with threats of violence but we did manage to stop Iran for almost 50 years through diplomacy. That’s all pissed down the drain now.

Oh we stopped them? They’ve steadily advanced towards being a nuclear state regardless of all the diplomacy deployed. How many countries don’t have nukes that aren’t being invaded. Canada, Italy, Japan, Costa Rica etc. they don’t have nukes and I don’t think they’re about to be invaded because they’ve joined the international community and are not sponsoring hezbollah or houthis etc.

Re: U.S. bombs Iranian nuclear sites

#472

Post by eastbound » Sun, Jun 22, 2025, 5:40 AM UTC

sodality2 wrote: post #34

tptacek wrote: post #23

I think Netanyahu belongs in prison, and Trump, the less said the better, but: couldn't have happened to a nicer unauthorized weapons-grade uranium enrichment facility dug into the side of a mountain hours outside of population centers. If you haven't already, I highly recommend reading up on the GBU-57 "bunker buster" bomb, because it is some Merrie Melodies Acme brand munitions. It's deliberately as heavy as they c…

Let’s hope whatever intel that says Iran really does have nukes is true, given its propensity as a scapegoat for previous wars. Don’t forget that less than 2 months ago, senior intelligence officials said conclusively Iran was not close to having nuclear weapons. Edit: 3 months, and source: https://www.newsweek.com/tulsi-gabbard-iran-nuclear-weapon-2...

Iran has “Death to America” as an hymn. It is commonly accepted that a nation directly threatening others of death deserves the war.

Re: U.S. bombs Iranian nuclear sites

#473

Post by PeterHolzwarth » Sun, Jun 22, 2025, 5:42 AM UTC

neilv wrote: post #362

In that reporting stream, at 22:58, "White House releases photos of Trump in Situation Room"[1], I'm struck that we are in a timeline that is not only dark, but surreal. It sounds trite to say from a position of relative comfort and distance, but I can only hope that someday our better selves will find peace with each other, around the globe. But we won't be able to undo all the injustices and atrocities that we infl…

Nothing odd about that. I'm thinking of photos of Obama and Hillary in the situation room, observing the strikes on Bin Laden in realtime.

Re: U.S. bombs Iranian nuclear sites

#474

Post by GuardianCaveman » Sun, Jun 22, 2025, 5:43 AM UTC

apu wrote: post #446

Incredible to see the bloodlust and warmongering here, cloaked in the language of technical interest.

Incredible to see the people who have zero contact with extremist Muslims or familiarity with what the Quran and hadiths actually say or understand Iran in any way talking about how Iran is the victim or burying their heads in the sand with their coexist bumper stickers acting like we can just be nice and everyone will get along.

Re: U.S. bombs Iranian nuclear sites

#475

Post by jiggawatts » Sun, Jun 22, 2025, 5:43 AM UTC

mrs6969 wrote: post #235

So russia can not attack a nuclear facility in ukraine, but us can in iran ? What am I missing ?

a) Russia plans to conquer Ukraine and use its resources. Nuclear power plants are very expensive and critical to industry. Russia wants to capture these for their own use, not blow them up and irradiate the countryside that they wish to be a part of their own country!

b) Active reactors contain very "hot" decay products that are very bad for your health if atomised by an explosion and spread around. Chernobyl is the prototypical example of this. Enriched Uranium is less radioactive than natural Uranium, that's the point! Natural Uranium would "trigger itself" prematurely due to its constant background decay radiation.

Re: U.S. bombs Iranian nuclear sites

#476

Post by alkyon » Sun, Jun 22, 2025, 5:44 AM UTC

cakealert wrote: post #465

Iran never had the deterrent North Korea had. And by being a theocracy they heavily skewed any threat calculus against themselves. What they were doing, inching towards nukes, was a horrible move. In their position, you either sprint covertly and not play at all. I suspect that after their nuclear program was discovered and set back they fell victim to the sunk cost fallacy and convinced themselves they could repurpo…

If anything, the lack of competence is on the other side.

Was enriched uranium destroyed? I doubt it.

Have they even "obliterated" Fordow site buried 90 m deep inside the mountain? I have serious doubts.

Iran's nuclear program was set back some months if anything.

Re: U.S. bombs Iranian nuclear sites

#477

Post by PeterHolzwarth » Sun, Jun 22, 2025, 5:44 AM UTC

batmaniam wrote: post #384

How the heck does a US president have military powers so powerful and broad? If congress can only declare war, it doesn't make sense to me that the president can put the entire country at risk of war by directly bombing another country. Like then at that point, congress has to approve right..? Because the damage is already done. It's a big slap on the face at the global stage, with no room for political face-saving.…

In America, there's nothing unusual here: Presidents can, and very frequently have, decided to do military strikes on targets. This is not illegal in American law.

Re: U.S. bombs Iranian nuclear sites

#478

Post by rich_sasha » Sun, Jun 22, 2025, 5:45 AM UTC

tptacek wrote: post #23

I think Netanyahu belongs in prison, and Trump, the less said the better, but: couldn't have happened to a nicer unauthorized weapons-grade uranium enrichment facility dug into the side of a mountain hours outside of population centers. If you haven't already, I highly recommend reading up on the GBU-57 "bunker buster" bomb, because it is some Merrie Melodies Acme brand munitions. It's deliberately as heavy as they c…

> unauthorized

It's a weird one. I don't disagree with your post, still, what is "approved" nukes? A bunch of countries got them, then decided that no one else is allowed them. Then Israel also got them, also "unauthorized", but countries who don't mind pretend they don't know.

In the end there is no authorized and unauthorized nukes, only a calculus of power.

Re: U.S. bombs Iranian nuclear sites

#479

Post by GuardianCaveman » Sun, Jun 22, 2025, 5:45 AM UTC

BartjeD wrote: post #448

Bombing another country is literally a declaration of war. With explosions. Isn't an act of congress required for this, in the US?

Obama bombed a lot of countries with no act of congress: Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, Libya, Syria, etc. I don’t know the legality but plenty of precedent besides him.

Re: U.S. bombs Iranian nuclear sites

#480

Post by nmca » Sun, Jun 22, 2025, 5:46 AM UTC

alkyon wrote: post #476

cakealert wrote: post #465

Iran never had the deterrent North Korea had. And by being a theocracy they heavily skewed any threat calculus against themselves. What they were doing, inching towards nukes, was a horrible move. In their position, you either sprint covertly and not play at all. I suspect that after their nuclear program was discovered and set back they fell victim to the sunk cost fallacy and convinced themselves they could repurpo…

If anything, the lack of competence is on the other side. Was enriched uranium destroyed? I doubt it. Have they even "obliterated" Fordow site buried 90 m deep inside the mountain? I have serious doubts. Iran's nuclear program was set back some months if anything.

How do you purport to know this?