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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Israeli Sources Confirm Blast At Iranian Nuclear Facility |
| 2013-01-28 |
| [Times Of Israel] London Times report cites intelligence officials who say Iran hasn't evacuated area around Fordo plant; unclear if kaboom was 'sabotage or accident' Israeli intelligence officials have confirmed that a major kaboom has rocked an Iranian nuclear facility, according to a report Monday in The Times of London. The British daily cited officials in Tel Aviv who said the blast occurred last week, as originally reported on the website wnd.com. Iran is not believed to have evacuated the area surrounding the Fordo plant, according to the same Israeli sources, who said that an investigation into the blast was ongoing. "We are still in the preliminary stages of understanding what happened and how significant it is," one Israeli official told the London Times. He did not know if the kaboom was "sabotage or accident" and refused to comment on reports that Israeli aircraft were seen near Fordo at the time of the blast. On Sunday, two senior Iranian officials dismissed reports of the kaboom. Deputy head of the Iranian Atomic Energy Agency Seyyed Shamseddin Barbroudi said there had been no kaboom at the Fordo facility whatsoever, according to the official Islamic Theocratic RepublicNews Agency. The chairman of the Iranian parliament's Committee for Foreign Policy and National Security, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, referred to rumors of the blast as "Western-made propaganda" and said they were "baseless lies" meant to impact ongoing talks on Iran's nuclear program, reported IRNA. The original wnd.com report published Friday claimed that a blast deep within Fordo last Monday "destroyed much of the installation and trapped about 240 personnel deep underground," citing information from former intelligence officer Hamidreza Zakeri, who it said used to work with the Islamic regime's Ministry of Intelligence and National Security. The article claimed the blast "shook facilities within a radius of three miles," that Iranian security forces had "enforced a no-traffic radius of 15 miles," that the Tehran-Qom highway was shut down for several hours after the blast, and that, "as of Wednesday afternoon, rescue workers had failed to reach the trapped personnel." It said US officials were aware of the reported blast. Asked about the incident on Sunday, Home Front Defense Minister Avi Dichter, a former head of Israel's Shin Bet security service, said, "Any kaboom in Iran that doesn't hurt people but hurts its assets is welcome." Dichter was acting defense minister Sunday, in the absence of Ehud Barak. Iran insists its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, but that claim has been rejected by much of the international community. The Islamic Theocratic Republic's consistent refusal to allow international inspectors into the Fordo nuclear facility has frustrated Western powers and officials at the ineffective International Atomic Energy Agency. |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #16 Here is the MSDS for UF6. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2013-01-28 23:42 |
| #15 The Magic Cellphone...don't leave home without it. |
| Posted by: The MOSSAD 2013-01-28 22:45 |
| #14 "Would the explosion be big enough to move seismographs? The articles I've seen haven't mentioned such a thing..." That's actually a very good point. I thought the same thing after you broke the original story last week. It seems like if the explosion actually shook the ground out to a radius of several miles around Fordo - then YES someone should have seen it on local seismographs in the ME. Not sure what the closest monitoring station would be. |
| Posted by: Raider 2013-01-28 19:30 |
| #13 Criticality incident aren't the big kaboom, more like a small fizzle. But they sure are messy. We can hope. |
| Posted by: KBK 2013-01-28 18:16 |
| #12 Something happened, buy I doubt it was the big kaboom. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2013-01-28 18:10 |
| #11 Hyperbaric hidden in the supplies? Criticality incident? Either would slow them down nicely. |
| Posted by: KBK 2013-01-28 18:10 |
| #10 Would the explosion be big enough to move seismographs? The articles I've seen haven't mentioned such a thing... |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2013-01-28 17:50 |
| #9 Rad leak or no, ima doing a happy dance. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2013-01-28 17:39 |
| #8 If there is any radiation leakage, I guarantee it is being picked up by satellites. That would make folks at CIA and NSA HQ do a little happy dance. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2013-01-28 17:01 |
| #7 In 2009, the EU took the MEK (aka Mujahadeen e Khalq aka The [Iran] People's Warriors) off the terrorist list. In Sept 2012, the US took them off the US terrorist list. Subsequently, several of the pro Mullah orgs in the US protested claiming that the unlisting would lead to the MEK engaging in sabotage in Iran. Tee Hee. |
| Posted by: lord garth 2013-01-28 14:53 |
| #6 Yep -- see here. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2013-01-28 14:32 |
| #5 Raider, I think the original, unconfirmed WND report claimed something like 240 workers were trapped underground at the Fordow plant. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2013-01-28 13:16 |
| #4 If this incident really was sabotage (and not a centrifuge accident) ... someone deserves to be awarded a medal. No mention of whether Iranian workers are still trapped underground in the Fordow plant, or whether there were casualties. But it seems highly likely that some of the workforce must have been unable to escape the incident. |
| Posted by: Raider 2013-01-28 12:25 |
| #3 Actual votes: KSA - Nay UAE - Nay Iraq - Nay Turkey - Nay Yemen - Nay Obamanland - Present |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2013-01-28 10:38 |
| #2 Just remember, Israel is not the only country that does not want Iran to go nuclear. The list is as long as a radical Imam fatwa. Saudi Arabia UAE Iraq Turkey Yemen Oman Heck even the nuts in Egypt don't want a nuclear Iran. |
| Posted by: Bill Clinton 2013-01-28 10:30 |
| #1 Interesting. Stuff like this makes you wish you were a fly on the wall in Netanyahu's office and could read the daily briefing from Mossad. HAHAHA!!! |
| Posted by: Raider 2013-01-28 10:23 |