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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Death of Iranian Nuclear Scientist Said to be 'Assassination'
2007-02-04
Possible, I suppose, but who could trust the State Department to tell the truth. Let Iran think it was Mossad - they're paranoid about them anyway. In fact, maybe State should let slip that it was a Mossad mole that did it (as long as it actually wasn't.)
A PRIZE-WINNING Iranian nuclear scientist has died in mysterious circumstances, according to Radio Farda, which is funded by the US State Department and broadcasts to Iran. An intelligence source suggested that Ardeshire Hassanpour, 44, a nuclear physicist, had been assassinated by Mossad, the Israeli security service.

Hassanpour worked at a plant in Isfahan where uranium hexafluoride gas is produced. The gas is needed to enrich uranium in another plant at Natanz which has become the focus of concerns that Iran may be developing nuclear weapons. According to Radio Farda, Iranian reports of Hassanpour’s death emerged on January 21 after a delay of six days, giving the cause as “gas poisoning”.
Uranium hexafluoride work accident would also qualify as 'gas poisoning'.
The Iranian reports did not say how or where Hassanpour was poisoned but his death was said to have been announced at a conference on nuclear safety.

Rheva Bhalla of Stratfor, the US intelligence company, claimed on Friday that Hassanpour had been targeted by Mossad and that there was “very strong intelligence” to suggest that he had been assassinated by the Israelis, who have repeatedly threatened to prevent Iran acquiring the bomb. Hassanpour won Iran’s leading military research prize in 2004 and was awarded top prize at the Kharazmi international science festival in Iran last year.
Posted by:Glenmore

#24  The deep tunnels and galleries inherent to U235 concentration process in Iran is a big liability in itself. You have to have access and you have to have power. that means that you have to hit the installations in the cooling systems for the engines or boilers, turbines, whatever. They have to run on a thermal cycle. They need transmission lines, which may be underground.

If infiltration could be done to screw up the processes, then that would be great. I would think that the level of infiltration would have to be really great, and I wonder if the Israelis have that capability.

So it seems to me that we are faced with air raids on the infrastructure needed to support the centrifuges, etc. And that means military force.

And ultimately that comes back to decapitating the leadership. I think that sanctions, and all that stuff will be too slow. Especially little Israel cannot afford ONE miscalculation. If Iran gets a nuke, in house or from Kimmie, the game is over for Israel.
Posted by: Alaska Paul   2007-02-04 23:27  

#23  RD: Let me guess. You are Shipman's extroverted personality.
Posted by: Anonymoose   2007-02-04 21:33  

#22  I still think the ideal thing for the Israelis to do would be to smuggle quart-to-gallon sized vaporizers into the Iranian facilities, hidden in other containers.

wow you still think that! man that's some stick to it thinking that.

If you have the means to install gallon size vaporizers within high security buildings in Iran undetected, then yes you would would have a remarkable capability.

But in lieu of that little important detail... like your latest kool-aid-krak idea that skips right over it, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[*lightbulb*]

How 'bout if our State Dept. only told the Iranians we were gonna let them all die of old age?

But hey wouldn't that mind fuck em. They'd be so confused and psyched out at the same time, that they'd die of CLUELESSNESS!

[/*lightbulb*]

What is it with you and Liver anyway? Have a Liver Fetish? How do you like yours Moose? I like mine with sauteed ceramic bowling balls myself. [from space]
Posted by: RD   2007-02-04 20:50  

#21  btw - IMHO - ship was substituting snark for debate. I agree that it would be nice, but the insertion into the air system would imply long term employment/security clearance, with all the hardships/complications for the Mossad that would imply. If they had the chance to hamstring the Iranian tech staff, I doubt they'd rely on a longterm scheme, more like - shot to the back of the head, aka the Gerald Bull™ treatment
Posted by: Frank G   2007-02-04 20:42  

#20  fair enuf
Posted by: Frank G   2007-02-04 19:47  

#19  sarcasm is a right

It's also annoying when it's the only trick in your bag.
Posted by: Pappy   2007-02-04 19:37  

#18  Alright, then I'll call Shipman an uncreative dimwit, who tends to freak out over small things. I don't mind having my ideas criticized, even sarcastically, but when it descends to the level of "nyah nyah", that's better suited for DU. If he just can't imagine how it could be done, then he has little imagination.

Deacon Blues was right on in spotting a major flaw in my argument, which would apply if some toxic chemicals were being used. But that is arguing tactics. Theoretically, some means, similar to, if not identical to what I proposed, is realistic.

The big idea is the philosophy of going around the problem of taking out deep, reinforced bunkers by using unconventional means.

In the last few weeks somebody even proposed using a dozen tunneling missiles to create a frigging mini-earthquake, for heavens' sake. Now *that* is something that should be criticized for being a pie-in-the-sky idea.

There is a good possibility that Israel has an ass-load of agents in Iran, and they have been there a long time. If they could sneak something into a bunch of those bunkers that would mess up the program, that is a very damn good idea.

It's not like spies haven't infiltrated high security installations before. And this just involves sneaking in a relatively small package.

Heck, if nothing else, they put some radioactive isotope in a major air conduit, it would probably activate every alarm in the place and would take a lot of down time to find and clean.

This is not rocket science, and it's a double damn shame that Shipman feels threatened by speculation.

So much for my RANT, Frank, which seems most appropriate for RANTburg.
Posted by: Anonymoose   2007-02-04 19:28  

#17  nice story Moose, but before you get all righteous on Ship, I'd advise a cup of STFU. questioning isn't wrong, sarcasm is a right, it's called RANTBURG you silly f*ck
Posted by: Frank G   2007-02-04 19:05  

#16  The United States government has identified 20 industrial chemicals that can cause acute liver injury or death, and more than 150 others that may lead to toxic hepatitis following longer exposure."

Fuck we could drown 'em too 'Moosey. Maybe we'll use the infrared beams on the icecaps. No fingerprints then. Or if we think really, really, hard we can bring down the rods' of gawd. Fabulous futurists, magic thinking man. 'MooseDust all around. All will be okay if we wish hard. Hell, maybe we could put the secret poison in a Fizzies pill. That way we could ship it to the unspuspecting Persians and safe the cost of the fans.
Posted by: Shipman   2007-02-04 18:42  

#15  Sorry, typo in there : DMSO is the correct substance.
Posted by: Shieldwolf   2007-02-04 18:33  

#14  Ricin blended with DSO and sprayed from an atomizer setup would work very well. Just need to put it in a location that is humid/damp so as to mask the poison's distribution for as long as possible. Doesn't take much Ricin to kill, it is almost undetectable, and it looks like a coronary. Just ask MI5/MI6 about how little it takes -- Bulgarian wetworks team used it against a defector in London.
Posted by: Shieldwolf   2007-02-04 18:31  

#13  I agree that the weapon has to fit the target. In this case, perhaps some biological toxin would be better, like one of the trichothecene mycotoxins.

If those are unsuitable, then even the use of biological weapons is not out of the question.

If the Iranians want to make and use WMDs, then they should become familiar with them.
Posted by: Anonymoose   2007-02-04 18:10  

#12  That's what happens when the uranium hexafluoride and nitrous oxide labels get switched.
Posted by: ed   2007-02-04 17:54  

#11  Although that might be a means to an ends, Moose, the reality is that all chemical compounds that affect the liver take quite a bit of time to be effective. Heavy metals are one. You cannot realese compounds in effective quantities without setting off the alarms inherant in this type of activity, and believe me, there are alarms integrated with the safety proceedures of tis type of activity. I personnaly know people who worked at Oak Ridge who died of cirrosis of the liver from exposure to gallium and beryllium. It took 30 years. The detectors nowdays are much more efficient and don't think for an instant that the Irianians don't know the dangers. Fissible materials have to be mixed with these heavy metals to insure they don't go BOOM before they are supposed to. There is no way anyone could plant anything that would not be detected.
Posted by: Deacon Blues   2007-02-04 17:45  

#10  http://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/sis/htmlgen?HSDB

http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/library/DS/00811.html

"The United States government has identified 20 industrial chemicals that can cause acute liver injury or death, and more than 150 others that may lead to toxic hepatitis following longer exposure."

As far as how Israel might smuggle a 1 qt to 1 gallon sized container among the tons of supplies and equipment shipped in and out of those installations on a daily basis, even you might be able to figure out how that could be done.

As far as the container with a timer and a fan, whoop-dee-doo.

Is this really that challenging to your intellect?
Posted by: Anonymoose   2007-02-04 17:42  

#9  What's the compound you would spray 'Moosey? How much? How the fuck would you get it there? InvisiRays? Numbers buddy, show me the numbers. Show me the the TOA. You ain't got shit.

Otherwise buzz off into the KookZone.
Posted by: Shipman   2007-02-04 17:26  

#8  Shipman: If you dislike my ideas, say so. But sneering cheap shots just demonstrate that that is all you are good for. You've been making a habit of it for long enough. So in future, if it annoys you, argue against it, or just STFU.
Posted by: Anonymoose   2007-02-04 17:11  

#7  Sun Tzu was right when he said that subtle means involving spies and clever preparation to disarm the enemy were far more valuable than the application of brute force ...

... and ignorance. Lots of ignorance. If you're going to use brute force, you need to go at it wholeheartedly, not piecemeal.
Posted by: gorb   2007-02-04 15:35  

#6  If this is true and it seriously sets back Iran's nuclear threat then the Israelis deserve all the credit in the world.

It's a pity we here in America didn't manage to pull off something like this in Iraq instead of using the sledgehammer approach of massive bombing followed by an invasion, occupation and nation-building exercise.

Sun Tzu was right when he said that subtle means involving spies and clever preparation to disarm the enemy were far more valuable than the application of brute force.
Posted by: Sic_Semper_Tyrannus   2007-02-04 15:01  

#5  Anonymoose - that could work, as long as the Iranians don't have their own version of Jack Bauer.
Posted by: DMFD   2007-02-04 14:42  

#4  I think the Iranian transporter beams should be disrupted.
Posted by: Shipman   2007-02-04 14:20  

#3  I like the cut of your jib, Anonymoose.
Posted by: Excalibur   2007-02-04 14:03  

#2  I still think the ideal thing for the Israelis to do would be to smuggle quart-to-gallon sized vaporizers into the Iranian facilities, hidden in other containers.

With extra quiet fans, they start to slowly blow odorless, tasteless, extraordinarily toxic chemicals into the air. Industrial chemicals that even at a few ppm concentration will destroy a human liver in a couple of weeks.

Literally killing every scientist and technician in the place, along with any visitors, and leaving the facility so contaminated that it would be useless to try and recover anything from it, or ever use it again.

What the Iranians would see would first be a dozen people coming down with a jaundice. Twelve hours later maybe 100 more, and within three days, as many people as were there. Death would follow within 48 to 72 hours after the onset of symptoms.

Liver transplant wouldn't help, as they would probably have enough residual in their blood to destroy the new organ.

This would not only screw up their entire nuclear program, but would decapitate several generations of irreplaceable nuclear scientists, nuclear technicians, and even some of the people they came into physical contact with, if their clothing and skin were contaminated.
Posted by: Anonymoose   2007-02-04 13:41  

#1  accident? assasination? Who cares. I do like the idea of rumoring Mossad. I'd even drop a name, or names in the rumor mill. Let the Iranians eat their own.

Pass the popcorn, please.
Posted by: anymouse   2007-02-04 00:20  

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