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Iran’s Top Nuclear Scientist Killed in Attack
- underseacables 6y agoIsrael may see the recent U.S. election as a decidedly negative, and possibly hostile, tilt away from Israeli support, therefore making such a targeted killing necessary.
- amir734jj 6y agoI am an Iranian living in the U.S. for the past 12 years. U.S. and Israel have done similar assassinations of Iranian physicists in the past. Nothing new unfortunately. Wikipedia page dedicated for this matter: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Iranian_nuclear_scientists https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Iranian_nucle...
- AsyncAwait 6y agoThe thing here is that it seems Israel wants to provoke the Iranians into some sort of a response so that the U.S. gets involved before Trump leaves office. It's mind boggling how the U.S. left the JCPOA, assassinated their top general & still somehow tries to pretend they have the moral high ground. But these sorts of assassinations are known to be mainly Israeli operations.
- mytailorisrich 6y agoNetanyahu has always been a hardliner. Perhaps the Israelis are simply expecting that Bidden won't support such actions so are making the most of Trump's last days in office, and perhaps the same goes for the US (Hypothetically if Israel and/or the US were involved, of course...)
- bigbubba 6y agoI doubt that's it; the last American president to meaningfully oppose anything Israel does was JFK, who tried to get international inspections of Dimona to stop Israel's nuclear weapons program. https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/kennedy-letter-to-ben-gurion-regarding-visit-to-dimona https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/kennedy-letter-to-ben-g...
- mytailorisrich 6y agoThere's oppose publicly and there's oppose behind closed doors. There's also being pissed off behind closed doors and taking less public actions to make it felt. The US take action against Israel when there are pissed off, although it's obviously quite mild (like cancelling weapon sales or grants for some time).
- mistermann 6y agoAnd then there's getting assassinated, and the odd lack of public curiosity that accompanies such events, of which there are many.
- amir734jj 6y agoMy family and everyone I know in Iran has been suffering from the sanctions before they were even born. From a shortage of diapers to medicine. Just look at the numbers of how many Iranians leave their country every year. Literally, everyone in my family and relatives lives outside of the country (Canada, Sweden, U.S., Dubai, Armenia and etc.) and the sad thing is I don't think I will ever go back. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_diaspora https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_diaspora
- sorenjan 6y agoOr they know that Iran will hold back to not provoke the new Biden administration. If Iran wants the US to rejoin the agreement and loosen the sanctions their hands are tied.
- pmachinery 6y agoThe last time the White House transitioned from Republican to Democrat we had this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaza_War_(2008%E2%80%932009) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaza_War_(2008%E2%80%932009)
- whimsicalism 6y agoWell yeah, shortly after the Bush administration supported a coup in the Palestinian National Authority, it caused conflict. I don't think you can pin that entirely on the transition.
- pmachinery 6y agoI'm not sure what pinning it on the transition means, but it's suggesting that it seems to be an opportunistic time for controversial actions; the outgoing regime doesn't care and/or fully approves, and the New Boss avoids any association/responsibility.
- e12e 6y agoIf anything, I think it likely that the Biden administration will be more pro Israel and pro war. See eg: https://jacobinmag.com/2020/11/joe-biden-administration-cabinet-picks-pro-war-hawks https://jacobinmag.com/2020/11/joe-biden-administration-cabi...
- whimsicalism 6y agoI think Biden will be less pro-Likud, but likely more hawkish, yes. Trump admin's hawkishness varied wildly over time as various people moved in and out.
- zucker42 6y agoMaybe more pro-war in general, but is there any reason to believe Joe Biden won't try to pursue a similar Iranian strategy as Obama?
- simonblack 6y agoProbably no more and no less. US Foreign Policy never changes, no matter who is the POTUS. The US Presidents do not run the country. They are just as much figureheads as the Queen of England. The Establishment is who really runs the country. They do not have to answer to any electors, and they never 'go out of office'.
- EVdotIO 6y agoI would put some serious money on Trump as a lame duck doing a whole lot of nothing. Israel probably sees this as an opening to take out core operatives without reprisal and a low chance of escalation. Iran will probably do what it has always has done, continue their nuke and ballistics program, and attempt to destabilize unfriendly regimes. They don't really have an awesome military tract record outside of guerrilla tactics nor the capacity for a prolonged large scale conflict against a technically superior advisory. I don't know what this has to do with propaganda though; it will always spin conflicts as just, inventible, necessary or simply just sweep it under the rug.
- dkarl 6y ago> so that the U.S. gets involved before Trump leaves office If it's about the difference between Biden and Trump, it would be about the incoming administration being more likely to get involved, not less. Virtually the only thing Trump has done right in office was not finding some excuse to get us involved in military conflict (which I very much expected him to, to cynically whip up patriotism and knee-jerk "unity" to clinch his reelection.) Biden will return us to the conventional U.S. foreign policy of bombing with an easy conscience and wringing our hands with moral anxiety when we think about maybe not bombing.
- el_benhameen 6y agoTrump ordered the assassination of Qassem Suleimani, the head of Iran’s Quds force, earlier this year. So I’m not sure that this argument applies to Iran. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/02/world/middleeast/qassem-soleimani-iraq-iran-attack.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/02/world/middleeast/qassem-s...
- dkarl 6y agoTrump's justification was that Suleimani was planning attacks against US targets, which is a pretty high bar for intervention (unless it was a complete fabrication, which doesn't seem likely.) Any other Democratic or Republican administration would have identified multiple opportunities/obligations per year to improve some situation in the world by military intervention, and counted themselves moderate if they only committed to one or two in four years. Biden's Secretary of State pick, for example, believes we were wrong not to escalate our involvement in Syria until we turned the tide.
- stunt 6y agoWas it really? That guy was leading one of the largest and the most effective ground forces against ISIS in Iraq and Syria. His troops had contact with the U.S. and Russia for air support. I wouldn't be surprised if one of U.S. regional allies that isn't happy about the situation in Iraq and Syria gave U.S. some made up intelligence about an attack to provoke U.S. against him. "BBC: Qasem Soleimani: Why his killing is good news for IS jihadists" https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-51021861 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-51021861
- platz 6y agoThe wikipedia article says Israel was the likely culprit, not the U.S.
- whimsicalism 6y agoThere's evidence that they typically coordinate closely for these sort of attacks.
- throwawaybutwhy 6y agoWhile Wikipedia may be technically correct, there's nothing new here. The U.S. has been supporting Marxist terrorists in Iran (PJAK, MEK) for quite a while. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran%E2%80%93PJAK_conflict#United_States_relations_with_PJAK https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran%E2%80%93PJAK_conflict#Uni... [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_Mujahedin_of_Iran#Ties_to_foreign_and_non-state_actors https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_Mujahedin_of_Iran#T...
- kome 6y agoThat's sad and unfair, another act of terrorism against what has been a peaceful country for quite a while, after all. Iran has been quite virtuous, while the US and its allies (Israel and Saudi Arabia) have been waging constant war. (Israel vs. Palestine and Jordan / Saudi Arabia against Yemen). That's deeply shameful. I wonder why isn’t there a “are we the baddies?” moment in the west…
- rdxm 6y agothe level of straight up bull shit in this post is quite something to behold....
- JumpCrisscross 6y ago> Iran has been quite virtuous I don’t think we should be assassinating scientists. But Tehran has been no angel [1]. Which is sad, since their people are one of the more peaceful in the region, judging from the limited polling we have. [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_and_state-sponsored_terrorism https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_and_state-sponsored_ter...
- AsyncAwait 6y ago> Tehran has been no angel Neither have been its main nemesis, the Saudis, Israelis and the U.S. I find this kind of isolated statement doesn't help to explain anything, but paint the Iranians as irrational. I have 1000 problems with their form of government, but I don't think they are irrational.
- eitland 6y ago> Neither have been its main nemesis, the Saudis, Israelis and the U.S. One of these is not like the others: Israel for all its warts has been quite consistent in leaving alone those who doesn't mess with them. Of course it makes competely sense given how they are consistently outnumbered in every way but quality, but still. They also have a long history of peaceful sharing of civilian technology etc etc.
- tehjoker 6y agoWell if Israel did it, it was almost assuredly in consultation with the Pentagon. I'm not sure how much credence to put in these ideas, but given Trump is still attempting a coup, some say that given his legal strategy is failing, he might try to start a military situation with Iran to create a crisis and make him a wartime president.
- throwaway894345 6y ago> Trump is still attempting a coup Trump has been a sore loser in this election, but to my knowledge he's only pursued legal avenues to overturn the election results. He also stated that he would leave office if the electoral college voted him out, even if he won't acknowledge that he lost the election. This is bad, tasteless behavior, but not a coup in any sense of the term.
- BrianOnHN 6y agoHow do you explain this? https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1332352538855747584 https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/13323525388557475...
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- jcfrei 6y agoNever take Trump's words at face value - even as president.
- throwaway894345 6y agoI read it as misinformation--i.e., the legal onus is on Biden to prove that his 80M votes weren't fraudulent; not that Trump would use the military to prevent Biden from taking office. In fact, I had to re-read it several times to even determine what coup-like meaning you were suggesting it contained.
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- blueblisters 6y agoIt's sad that countries target scientist with moral impunity to achieve their strategic and geopolitical objectives. If it was a nuclear scientist assassinated in the West, the same moral indifference wouldn't apply.
- joshuaheard 6y agoThe Iranian nuclear scientist in question was building a nuclear bomb to destroy Israel. Iran is building an offensive nuclear weapon. In the U.S. our nuclear arsenal is a defensive weapon. So, not morally equivalent. https://thehill.com/policy/international/527724-iranian-scientist-linked-to-military-nuclear-program-assassinated-in https://thehill.com/policy/international/527724-iranian-scie...
- justicezyx 6y agoYou are saying Oppenheimer should have been killed?
- durovo 6y agoI personally don't think that he should have been killed. But GP might have been fine with it had the Japanese killed Oppenheimer?
- hnracer 6y agoNot a valid analogy. The allies were trying to beat a fascist autocracy that had just ravaged multiple countries and committed heinous war crimes with no indication of having a willingness to slow their pursuit. That's in no way comparable to the current situation of Iran building a nuke to deter or obliterate Israel.
- 737min 6y agoAre you aware of what Iran has been up to in the region? Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Gaza..
- zepearl 6y agoAbout Iran & electric energy ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_in_Iran#Electricity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_in_Iran#Electricity ): > Energy consumption in Iran is 6.5 times that of global average. It is estimated that 18.5% of electricity generated in Iran is wasted before it reaches consumers due to technical problems. Electric power wastage hit $1.1 billion in 2006. Interesting (if true/correct) - I guess that they could first fix this if they really want nuclear for the purpose of generating electricity.
- S53Vflnr4n 6y agoWhoever did it should have done similar like Stuxnet. Killing a scientist is not honourable.
- the_only_law 6y agoI doubt there is much “honor” among the intelligence services usually involved in this sort of thing.
- aborsy 6y agoSo much damage to the world economy and human suffering for 70 years, because a narrow interest group benefit from these crimes.
- jl6 6y agoIf we take Iran’s stated goal of producing electricity at face value, how does solar compare to nuclear? My impression is that the country has near-ideal climate and latitude for solar, so what’s holding them back? Is the terrain unsuitable, or are the sanctions preventing solar technology from being used?
- whimsicalism 6y ago> If we take Iran’s stated goal of producing electricity at face value I think the claim is they need enriched uranium for medical purposes, not producing electricity.
- throwaway4good 6y agoIt is an act of war by Israel probably approved by Washington but there is very little Iran can do about it.
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- aaron695 6y agoHow is Israel/US getting people in and out to do this? Similarly - https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/13/world/middleeast/al-masri-abdullah-qaeda-dead.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/13/world/middleeast/al-masri... Do they supply the mafia, or a opposition party? Use domestic flights? Offer citizenships/$ to citizens? How do they protect the families of those who help? Where did the pickup truck they blew up come from?
- stunt 6y agoWhat is the point of assasinating a scientist? I'm sure he was not single handedly doing everything. It seems just an effort to provoke Iran into a conflict with the U.S.
- aristofun 6y agoI wonder how all comments supporting Israel here are greyed out. Like there’s no chance Iran or specific scientists could actually planning any evil.