Salon.com > Tehran

Could Tehran be the next Hiroshima?

Mon, 13 May 2013 13:05:00 +0000

In those first minutes, they’ll be stunned. Eyes fixed in a thousand-yard stare, nerve endings numbed. They’ll just stand there. Soon, you’ll notice that they are holding their arms out at a 45-degree angle. Your eyes will be drawn to their hands and you’ll think you mind is playing tricks. But it won’t be. Their fingers will start to resemble stalactites, seeming to melt toward the ground. And it won’t be long until the screaming begins. Shrieking. Moaning. Tens of thousands of victims at once. They’ll be standing amid a sea of shattered concrete and glass, a wasteland punctuated by the shells of buildings, orphaned walls, stairways leading nowhere.

This could be Tehran, or what’s left of it, just after an Israeli nuclear strike.

Iranian cities -- owing to geography, climate, building construction, and population densities -- are particularly vulnerable to nuclear attack, according to a new study, “Nuclear War Between Israel and Iran: Lethality Beyond the Pale,” published in the journal Conflict & Health by researchers from the University of Georgia and Harvard University. It is the first publicly released scientific assessment of what a nuclear attack in the Middle East might actually mean for people in the region.

Defiant Iran announces two nuclear-related projects

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 11:45:00 +0000

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran announced two key nuclear-related projects on Tuesday that expand the country's ability to extract and process uranium, which can be enriched for reactor fuel but also potentially for atomic weapons.

The development came just days after another round of talks with world powers seeking to limit Tehran's atomic program ended in a stalemate.

Iran already has uranium mines and the ability to turn the raw ore into a material called yellowcake, which is the first step in the enrichment chain. But the new facilities — the country's largest uranium mine and processing facility — give Tehran more self-sufficiency over the raw materials and underscore Iran's drive to expand its nuclear capacities even as world powers press for concessions.

Iran and the six-nation group — the five permanent U.N. Security Council members plus Germany — remain stalemated after the latest round of talks last week over efforts to rein in Iran's nuclear program. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has said the "door was still open" for a negotiated pact with Iran, but urged Tehran's leaders to take the first steps to address international concerns that they could seek nuclear weapons.

Is Venezuela harboring Hezbollah?

Tue, 08 Jan 2013 23:27:00 +0000

Editor's note: This is part of a series on the alleged spread of Islamic terror cells in America's "backyard." See part one here.

LIMA, Peru — Is Venezuela providing operational support to Islamic terrorists?

That deadly serious question is increasingly troubling foreign policy and security experts as the South American country and Iran — which funds Hezbollah — move ever closer.

Despite deep cultural differences, a shared antagonism toward the US has drawn Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and his Iranian counterpart, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, into an unlikely political friendship in recent years.

"Iran is an example of struggle, resistance, dignity, revolution, strong faith," Chavez said during one early visit to Tehran.

Tehran says it has material evidence of U.S. drone capture

Wed, 05 Dec 2012 14:27:00 +0000

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Iran has material evidence to prove that it has captured an American unmanned aircraft, a prominent lawmaker in Tehran said Wednesday, rejecting U.S. Navy statements that none of its drones in the region was missing.

Tehran on Tuesday claimed to have captured a Boeing-designed ScanEagle drone after it entered Iranian airspace over the Persian Gulf, and even showed an image of the purportedly downed aircraft on state TV. The Islamic Republic trumpeted its possession of an allegedly intact U.S. drone as another prize in its growing showdown with Washington over surveillance of Iran's disputed nuclear program.

"We have material evidence to prove that the drone we captured belongs to the U.S.," Ismael Kowsari, the head of the Iranian parliament's defense committee, told The Associated Press. "The unmanned aircraft took off from a warship. The Americans will have no choice but to confirm that one of their drones is missing."

Kowsari did not say what proof the Islamic Republic has to back up his claims, but said Tehran will release more information on the aircraft soon.

Iran claims to have captured US drone

Tue, 04 Dec 2012 12:00:00 +0000

Another dispute has arisen between Iran an the U.S. over a drone. Last month Iran shot at, but missed, a U.S. unmanned aircraft, which Tehran claims was flying in Iranian airspace, while the U.S. insists that the drone was in international territory. On Tuesday, Tehran claimed via state media to have captured a U.S. drone flying over the country's airspace. And once again, the U.S. line is different: a spokesman for U.S. Naval Forces said no drone had gone missing in the region.

Although neither the American nor the Iranian side of the story can be verified, the A.P. reported that Al-Alam, Iran's state Arabic-language channel, showed two Revolutionary Guard commanders examining what appeared to be an intact Scan Eagle drone:

In the footage, the two men then point to a huge map of the Persian Gulf in the background, showing the drone's alleged path of entry into Iranian airspace.

"We shall trample on the U.S.," was printed over the map, next to the Guard's coat-of-arms.

If true, the seizure of the drone would be the third reported incident involving Iran and U.S. drones in the past two years.

UN agency: Iran poised to expand nuclear work

Fri, 16 Nov 2012 20:53:00 +0000

SALZBURG, Austria (AP) -- Iran is poised to double its output of higher-enriched uranium at its fortified underground facility, the U.N. nuclear agency said Friday - a development that puts Tehran within months of being able to make the core of a nuclear warhead.

In its report, the International Atomic Energy Agency said Iran was ready within days to ramp up its production of 20 percent enriched uranium at its plant at Fordo using 700 more centrifuges.

That would double Iran's present output and cut in half the time it would take to acquire enough of the substance needed to make a nuclear weapon, reducing it to just over three months.

Iran says it has no interest in making nuclear arms, just nuclear power for its citizens, but the United States and other nations believe otherwise. Iran refuses to give up enrichment despite international sanctions and offers of reactor fuel from abroad and for years has stalemated an IAEA probe of suspicions that it worked secretly on developing such arms.

The IAEA report, which was circulated among the IAEA's 35 board member states, was obtained by The Associated Press. It said between the last IAEA board report in August and now, Iran had put nearly 700 centrifuges that were installed but not ready to operate at Fordo under a vacuum to make sure they are airtight.

Iran bans luxury imports as sanctions bite

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 22:12:00 +0000

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Iran's sanctions-fighting "resistance economy" suddenly got a lot leaner, less flashy and perhaps a bit more uncomfortable.

The Islamic Republic announced Thursday a ban on imports of 75 so-called luxury products - ranging from high-end cars to coffee to toilet paper - part of efforts to promote domestic products and stem the outflow of dollars and other foreign currency as Western economic pressures increasingly choke off Iran's commerce and critical oil revenue.

It's the most sweeping measure so far to batten down the Iranian economy, although the move is not likely to leave showrooms and store shelves empty.

It allows for foreign parts to be shipped in for local assembly plants, which make cars such as Peugeots, European-brand home appliances, laptops and mobile phones - all covered by the new ban.

There also are many Iranian-made alternatives to the list of now-blocked toiletries and beauty products - toothpaste, soap, shampoo, cosmetics and even toilet paper - but many consumers strongly prefer often better-quality imports from Europe, Turkey and the Middle East.