US skipped bunker-busters at key Iran nuke site due to depth, general reveals
The decision highlights a stark gap between military capabilities and presidential rhetoric. Despite President Trump's claims that strikes "obliterated" Iran's nuclear program, an early Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) assessment concluded core facilities survived, setting back enrichment only "by months."
Satellite imagery analyzed by weapons expert Jeffrey Lewis showed vehicles near Isfahan's tunnels days before the strike, with entrances reopened by June 27, suggesting uranium may have been moved. Technical analyses further indicate bunker-busters would have failed: Fordow's 90-meter depth exceeds the MOP's 25-meter penetration in medium-strength rock. At Isfahan, even 30,000-pound bombs couldn't reach chambers housing centrifuges. "Annihilated is too strong," conceded IAEA chief Rafael Grossi, though he acknowledged "enormous damage" to above-ground infrastructure.
Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy told CNN on Thursday night, after receiving the briefing, that some of Iran's facilities 'are so far underground that we can never reach them. So they have the ability to move a lot of what has been saved into areas where there's no American bombing capacity that can reach it.'
Republican lawmakers emerged from briefings acknowledging uranium stocks likely endure but defended the mission's scope. 'There is enriched uranium in the facilities that moves around, but that was not the intent or the mission,' Republican Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas was quoted as telling CNN. 'My understanding is most of it's still there. So we need a full accounting. That's why Iran has to come to the table directly with us, so the (International Atomic Energy Agency) can account for every ounce of enriched uranium that's there. I don't think it's going out of the country, I think it's at the facilities,' McCaul continued.
However, White House assertions clash with intelligence: Trump insisted "nothing was moved" pre-strike, despite DIA evidence of relocations and Israel's assessment of a "significant hit" (not total destruction). With Tehran now suspending IAEA access, confirming uranium's status remains impossible, leaving a critical void in assessing the operation's true impact.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
First Post
14 minutes ago
- First Post
US: Alaska Summit To Be Listening Exercise For Trump, White House Says Firstpost America
US: Alaska Summit To Be Listening Exercise For Trump, White House Says | Firstpost America | N18G The White House has described President Donald Trump's meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin as 'a listening exercise for the president.' The meeting is scheduled for August 15 in Anchorage, Alaska. White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt emphasised that Trump agreed to the face-to-face discussion to better understand how to bring an end to the war in Ukraine. Meanwhile, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Wednesday that Ukraine and its allies must work together to pressure Russia into ending its invasion, ahead of talks in Berlin with European leaders and US leader Donald Trump. See More
&w=3840&q=100)
First Post
14 minutes ago
- First Post
China keeps up Russian oil purchases as Indian demand falls, say analysts
While Indian state refiners have paused Russian oil purchases in the wake of US tariffs, Chinese refineries have continued to buy Russian oil under encouragement from the Trump administration. An oil tanker is moored at the Sheskharis complex, part of Chernomortransneft JSC, a subsidiary of Transneft PJSC, in Novorossiysk, Russia, on October 11, 2022. File Image/AP Chinese refineries have purchased 15 cargoes of Russian oil for October and November delivery as Indian demand for Moscow's exports falls away, two analysts and one trader said on Tuesday. India has emerged as the leading buyer of Russian seaborne oil, which has sold at a discount since some Western nations shunned purchases and imposed restrictions on Russian exports over Moscow's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Indian state refiners paused Russian oil purchases last month, however, as those discounts narrowed. And US President Donald Trump is also threatening to punish countries for buying Russian crude. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD China had secured 15 Russian Urals cargoes for October–November delivery by the end of last week, said Richard Jones, a Singapore-based crude analyst at Energy Aspects. Each Urals cargo ranges in size from 700,000 to 1 million barrels. Kpler senior analyst Xu Muyu wrote in an August 14 report that China has likely purchased about 13 cargoes of Urals and Varandey crude for October delivery, along with at least two Urals cargoes for November. The additional Russian Urals supply could curb Chinese refiners' appetite for Middle Eastern crude, which is $2 to $3 per barrel more expensive, Xu said. This, in turn, could add further pressure to the Dubai market which is already losing momentum as seasonal demand fades while competition from arbitrage supply intensifies, she added. A trade source agreed with Kpler's estimate, adding that the cargoes were booked mostly at the beginning of this month by Chinese state-owned and independent refineries. China, the world's top oil importer and largest Russian oil buyer, primarily buys ESPO crude exported from the Russian Far East port of Kozmino due to its proximity. Its year-to-date imports of Urals crude stood at 50,000 barrels per day, Kpler data showed. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Urals and Varandey crude are typically shipped to India, Kpler data showed. Indian state-refiners have backed out Russian crude imports by approximately 600,000 to 700,000 bpd, according to Energy Aspects' Jones. 'We do not expect China to absorb all of the additional Russian volumes, as Urals is not a baseload grade for Chinese majors,' he said, referring to Chinese state refineries which are not designed to solely process the Russian grade. Chinese refiners will also be wary about the possibility of US secondary sanctions if Trump's push for a Ukraine peace deal breaks down, he added. Trump said on Friday he did not immediately need to consider retaliatory tariffs on countries such as China for buying Russian oil but might have to 'in two or three weeks'. (This is an agency copy. Except for the headline, this has not been edited by Firstpost staff.)
Indian Express
14 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Despite Trump's shuttle diplomacy, a protracted war is likely to drag on in Ukraine
By Aleksei Zakharov The paucity of detail and confidentiality surrounding the outcomes of the summits in Alaska and Washington DC, held on August 15 and 18, respectively, hints that something major is in the works. The meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin is generally perceived as a success for the latter, who not only managed to break through Western isolation to receive a red-carpet reception, but also exploited the talks to once again push his agenda on Ukraine. It is also believed that Putin outplayed Trump with regard to the specifics of conflict resolution: He escaped a new round of US sanctions, which the US president had promised in the event of no deal being reached, without making too many commitments of his own. Following their three-hour conversation, Trump suddenly shifted his position, promoting a peace agreement rather than a ceasefire as the immediate goal. This aligns with Moscow's vision but contradicts Kyiv's demands for the advancement of talks. Currently, there is hardly any alignment on 'security guarantees' between the conflicting sides. While European leaders are mulling various options, ranging from further strengthening the Ukrainian army to boosting its military production and deploying troops on the ground, Trump repeatedly says that the US is willing to sell more weaponry to Ukraine via Europe but will probably not go beyond efforts at 'coordination'. Even if Washington rules out sending its troops, all of these steps appear unacceptable for Putin, who has not wavered in his vision of a neutral or 'demilitarised' Ukraine. In a sense, demilitarisation of Ukraine is the 'security guarantee' that Putin has been seeking, though Kyiv's acquiescence to this in the current stalemate seems unlikely. Another key item on the agenda and a potential stumbling block is the 'land swap' issue which US special envoy Steven Witkoff described as 'the crux of the deal.' While the terms of the offer remain unclear, Witkoff outlined that Kyiv was expected to cede the territories of Donbas in exchange for Russian concessions in other regions. This is on top of Washington's apparent acceptance of Russia's control of Crimea as a fait accompli. Convinced of its military superiority, Moscow is exploiting its territorial gains as leverage in negotiations. Putin has previously warned that if Ukraine does not accept his preconditions for ending the war, the advancement of the Russian army will leave Ukraine in an even worse situation. The territorial issue is also sensitive for political reasons. Both Ukraine and Russia enshrine the disputed territories in their constitutions, so any territorial concessions in the five regions in question (Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson and Crimea) would require a thorny legislative process. This puts President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a vulnerable position, as surrendering Ukrainian lands could jeopardise his political ambitions in the presidential elections that would follow the peace agreement. Trump's shuttle diplomacy between Russia, Ukraine and Europe has paved the way for direct communication between Moscow and Kyiv. While their previous rounds of talks were moderately successful, resulting in the exchange of prisoners of war, they failed to bridge the positions of the two warring parties. The new goal is a summit between Zelenskyy and Putin which looks like a half-baked idea. The Kremlin has not rejected the possibility of a meeting, but has offered to first elevate the level of the Russian and Ukrainian delegations for new talks in Istanbul, thereby retaining an element of ambiguity. While Trump is rushing to secure another 'peace deal' before the Nobel Prize announcements on October 10, Putin is under no time constraints or domestic pressure. The Russian president is granting concessions to Trump, recognising that the latter's presidency is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to improve Russia-US relations and reach an understanding on broader strategic issues. Moscow has offered Trump various sweeteners such as joint projects in the Arctic and the access to reserves of critical minerals. Just a day before the Alaska meeting, Putin signed a decree allowing the US oil major Exxon Mobil to regain its shares in the Sakhalin-1 oil and gas project. Essentially, US-Russia relations have transitioned from confrontation to engagement, though progress in their dialogue has been limited even on technical issues such as the restaffing of embassies and resolving visa issues. The war in Ukraine remains hard to untangle and will require much patience and quiet diplomacy. While Russia and Ukraine are showing conciliatory signs, primarily in an attempt to win Trump over to their side, there are no good solutions to the conflict. Despite diplomatic overtures, a peace deal is still unlikely. Neither the US nor Europe has the sufficient leverage to pressure Moscow, and Russia has been unable to coerce Kyiv into making peace on its own terms. In this impasse, attempts to craft an imperfect peace will go hand in hand with a protracted war. The writer is a Fellow with the Strategic Studies Programme at Observer Research Foundation
