WarSclerotic

Iran to Build High-Powered Explosives Used for Nuclear Arms, Clarion Project, April 11, 2016

(Obama will act decisively by sending a letter to Khamenei explaining “that’s not who you are.” — DM)

Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier-General Hossein Dehqan

The U.S. administration claimed the agreement would mean that Iran’s break-out timeline to build a nuclear weapon would be at least one year for the next 10 years. With a nuclear detonator in place, that timeline would become significantly shorter.

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Three months after the nuclear agreement with Iran was implemented, Iran just announced that it would be producing a powerful explosive that could be used to detonate nuclear weapons.

Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan announced plans to build a plant which produces Octogen (also known as HMX — High-velocity military explosive) to improve the penetration and destructive power of missile payloads while increasing their precision.

“Concurrently with its efforts to increase the precision-striking power of its weapons systems, the defense ministry has also paid attention to boosting the destructive and penetration power of different weapons’ warheads and has put on its agenda the acquisition of the technical know-how to produce Octogen explosive materials and Octogen-based weapons,”  Dehqan said at the plant’s inauguration ceremony.

While Octogen can be used in non-nuclear applications, one of its main purposes is that of a detonator of atomic weapons. The production of the chemical does not violate the agreement, which failed to mention the issue of nuclear detonators, but raises a red flag concerning the timetable used to sell the agreement to Western countries.

The U.S. administration claimed the agreement would mean that Iran’s break-out timeline to build a nuclear weapon would be at least one year for the next 10 years. With a nuclear detonator in place, that timeline would become significantly shorter.

In addition, there is concern Iran will sell the explosive to any number of terrorist groups that the Islamic Republic supports. A 2004 report by The New York Times regarding the disappearance of 380 tons of HMX and RDX (rapid detonation explosive, another chemical explosive) from a Sadadam Hussein/al-Qaeda facility notes that HMX’s  “benign appearance makes it easy to disguise as harmless goods, easily slipped across borders,” and that it is “used in standard nuclear weapons design.”

The new effort by Iran is part of a strategy outlined by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on March 20, the beginning of the Iranian new year, in which Khamenei called for a concerted effort to increase the country’s power to confront its enemies while at the same time helping its economy.

“The main issue is that the Iranian nation should be able to do something to bring its vulnerabilities to zero point, and we should have the art of using opportunities and turning threats into opportunities,” Khamenei said

Echoing that sentiment, Dehqan said at the time, “We should strengthen ourselves to the level that we can prevent failure and acquire victory over our enemies.”

Just the day before the opening of the HMX plant, Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Commander Major-General Mohammad Ali Jafari, announced, “For years, we have been building power on the presumption of a widespread war with the US and its allies, and have developed all our capacities and capabilities for decisive victories over such enemies.”

“Before political and diplomatic options, we have gotten prepared for a military option,” he continued.

Jafari also bragged that If there is a military confrontation, the U.S. will not be able “to do a damn thing” about it.

This entry was posted on April 11, 2016 at 10:19 PM and is filed under Iran scam, Iranian nukes, JCPOA, Nuclear War, Obama and Iran. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments.

Tags: Iran Scam, Iranian nukes, JCPOA, Nuclear War, Obama and Iran