To the editor:

Virtually no one supports Iran’s nuclear weapons program except the country’s authoritarian rulers. Yet, they have been refining uranium since the Islamic revolution. Rhetoric and economic sanctions have not deterred them.

Early in the Obama administration, America and Israel smuggled a computer virus (later dubbed Stuxnet) into Iran that covertly destroyed centrifuges purifying uranium. Iran was mystified until Netanyahu unilaterally ordered Israeli programmers to make the virus spread faster. This altered virus spilled onto the internet. Computer security experts around the world analyzed Stuxnet, helping the Iranians purge it from their computers. Afterwards, Iran began purifying uranium with renewed vigor.

After the failure of Stuxnet, the Obama administration pursued a diplomatic solution. A treaty was signed in 2015. Iran discarded most of its enriched uranium, allowed inspections of nuclear facilities, limited its enrichment of uranium to 3.67% purity, and effectively halted its nuclear weapons program.

Unfortunately, the Trump administration withdrew from the treaty in 2018. Since then, Iran rebuilt its nuclear program and enriched uranium to 60% purity, just short of weapons grade.

This spring, after failing to impose a new nuclear treaty on Iran, Trump began warning of severe consequences if no deal was signed. Iran responded by sharply increasing production of 60% uranium.

Netanyahu ordered the bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities but could not damage the most secure facility installed deep underground. He maneuvered Trump into threatening an attack with bunker busters. After Trump’s threats, trucks were seen coming and going from Iran’s nuclear sites. Reportedly, Iran’s stockpile of 60% uranium was moved away. Now that the bunker busters have been dropped, it is not clear how much damage was caused deep underground.

At this point, the only way to find the purified uranium would be to invade Iran and search for it. That method did not turn out well in Iraq. A big difference is that before the Iraq invasion, unbiased evidence indicated that Iraq did not have WMD. Today, we can be confident that Iran has almost half a ton of near weapons grade uranium hidden away, enough to make many atomic bombs.

Sherwin Skar

Marshall