...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneouslytaking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet
militiasto extend the regime's influence. The word
Iranis a cognate form of
Aryan.The abbreviation
IRGCis the same idea as
Stürmabteilung (or SA).The term
Supreme Guideis a the modern version form of either
Duceor
Führeror maybe both. They hate
has 55.6 kilograms (122.6 pounds) of 60% enriched uranium. The body says this means Iran is able to produce up to 25 kg (55 lbs) of 90% enriched uranium, enough for a nuclear bomb.
The real story could be even more concerning. Consider the hoary phrase, "There’s more than one way to skin a cat." Similarly, there’s more than one way to make a nuclear bomb.
The Union of Concerned Scientists has said that it might be possible to produce a fission-type nuclear weapon with as little as 15kg (33 lbs) of highly enriched uranium. The Hiroshima bomb, which was uranium-fueled, required 64kg (141 lbs) of enriched uranium.
But if enriched Uranium-235 is one way to produce a nuclear bomb, a plutonium bomb is also possible — and Iran has pursued both. It is worth considering that Iran could have a hidden plutonium program — or, alternatively, is acquiring plutonium from outside.
North Korea
...hereditary Communist monarchy distinguished by its truculence and periodic acts of violence. Distinguishing features include Songun (Army First) policy, which involves feeding the army before anyone but the Dear Leadership, and Juche, which is Kim Jong Il's personal interpretation of Marxism-Leninism, which he told everybody was brilliant. In 1950 the industrialized North invaded agrarian South Korea. Twenty-one countries of the United Nations eventually contributed to the UN force opposing the invasion, with the United States providing around 90% of the military personnel. Seventy years later the economic results are in and it doesn't look good for Juche...
produces plutonium at its Yongbyon reactor complex situated 60 miles north of Pyongyang. It appears to have surplus plutonium and is aiming to produce even more. North Korea, Iran and Syria cooperated in building a clone of this reactor in eastern Syria at Al Kibar. That reactor was destroyed in a complex Israeli operation on September 5-6, 2007.
For the record, the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear agreement declared all plutonium production off limits for Iran. Iran was required to halt the construction of a plutonium reactor at Arak and was said to have filled the reactor’s core with cement.
But in 2020 Iran’s atomic energy chief, Ali Akbar Salehi, announced that the JCPOA-required optic was only for show. "When they told us to pour cement into the tubes," he recalled, "we said: ’Fine. We will pour.’ But we did not tell them that we had other tubes. Otherwise, they would have told us to pour cement into those tubes, as well."