DDGeopolitics: Tehran reacted to Donald Trump's statements about the "complete destruction" of nuclear facilities:
"Contrary to the words of the lying US president, there is no serious damage in Fordow. Only ground structures were damaged, which are easy to restore. No radiation emissions were recorded, the evacuation was carried out in advance," said Iranian MP Mannan Raisi.
🗣 He stressed that Iran regards the US attacks as Washington's direct entry into the war, and the decision on further response "Tehran will accept it itself";
🗣 US will bear responsibility for consequences of strikes on Iran, says Houthi leader in Yemen;
🗣 The Iranian news agency ISNA published footage allegedly near the Fordow complex : no fires, no debris. -- https://t.me/s/DDGeopolitics 04:18h today
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Thomas Keith: 6 MOPs reportedly dropped on Fordow. The GBU-57A/B relies on mass, not firepower, 30,000 lbs of tungsten, delayed fuses, inertial guidance, and geological stress sequencing. But Fordow was built for this. Its design assumes MOP logic: curved tunnels, offset caverns, anti-penetration strata, layered redundancy across ventilation, C2, and IR-6 centrifuge chambers. A single hit collapses nothing. 2 breach a tunnel mouth. To truly destroy the core, you'd need tight sequencing, vector convergence, telemetry confirmation, and real-time damage layering. That didn't happen, at best, they sealed an entrance. Iran reports no core disruption, no enrichment halt, and no internal collapse.
To drop 6 MOPs means either 3 B-2s in simultaneous action or 2 conducting multiple flyovers, deep in contested airspace, without strike escort, in one of the most monitored radar corridors on earth. If Fordow was gone, you'd see craters, electromagnetic rupture, emergency airlifts, seismographs lighting up, and IR flares beneath the mountain. Instead, we got a tweet from an account run out of Northern Israel, yelling "Fordow is gone," while hawking Gaza's Most Wanted trading cards.
Tomahawks on Natanz and Esfahan add nothing. Cruise missiles are subsonic, non-penetrative, and designed for surface-level disruption. You don't decapitate nuclear infrastructure with Block IVs. You flick switches. You scorch perimeters. You stage headlines. A thousand-pound warhead doesn't cut into fuel halls or disrupt cascade chambers beneath 20 meters of hardened casing. This was a signal to domestic media cycles and Tel Aviv psyops operators.
As of now, there is no SAR confirmation. No crater clustering. No multispectral flash analysis. No underground fire signature. No BDA loop. If Fordow still spins tomorrow, Washington just pulled off the most expensive influence op in bunker-busting history, only to watch Tehran climb the escalation ladder unscathed. -- https://nitter.net/iwasnevrhere_/status/1936595834851975603#m
Armchair Warlord @ArmchairW: My thoughts on the attack on Iran, as currently reported.
It's clear that an attack took place. Official sources in the DoD are claiming 30 sub-launched Tomahawks and 6 MOPs were used via B-2s. I see no reason to take that claim at face value, absent some amount of proof.⬇️
As a first order of business, the attack passed entirely under the radar of the usual nightly exchange of fire between Iran and Israel until Trump made his announcement. There was some reporting of air defense activity and isolated blasts but nothing suggestive of a large attack, and video has emerged of what sounds like a few cruise missiles hitting a target in the desert, without secondary explosions or fires. Videos that made the rounds earlier showing large fires and explosions at these sites appear to have been disinformation or clickbait.
The attack, as the DoD insider has claimed occurred (and as the DoD will probably officially claim tomorrow) bizarrely combined the lowest and highest-risk attack methods - submarine-launched cruise missiles and multiple B-2s penetrating into central Iran to drop gravity bombs on a heavily defended site, with a need to egress hundreds of miles of alerted airspace afterwards. Perhaps the Air Force actually had the stones and capability to do this, although given they refused to risk B-2s in Yemen earlier and the IAF has conducted their campaign thus far almost entirely with standoff munitions and drones (because the Iranian air defense network is by no means down), I doubt it.
Now allow me to draw your attention to a... numerological coincidence, let's say. 30 TLAMs and 6 MOPs, 36 rounds total. I will note that US attack submarines carry 12 TLAMs in a vertical launch array, and the inside source in the Pentagon made a critical slip - they specified submarines, plural, participated in the attack. Ergo three attack submarines could have launched 36 rounds between them, and ergo it wasn't one of the Ohio SSGN conversions. Getting three attack submarines on station would have been trivial in these circumstances.
My theory for the evening? I think this was a low-risk, low-impact attack entirely conducted using submarine-launched cruise missiles, and the DoD is simply lying about heavy bomber involvement for propaganda purposes. TLAMs are accurate enough to damage bunker entrances and cause the same kind of disruptive damage that a MOP strike could realistically achieve on a site as incredibly hardened as Fordow. Damage to subterranean facilities at other sites, beyond bunker entrances, is unlikely - TLAMs are not "bunker buster" munitions. There may be a number of aboveground buildings damaged or destroyed, although given a lack of fires observed that also seems somewhat unlikely at this point.
What's Trump's play here? I think he's trying to rescue Netanyahu from the consequences of his own idiotic decision to start a war with Iran he manifestly wasn't capable of finishing, and to do so in a manner the Iranians are not necessarily going to be forced to respond to. As an American taxpayer and former DoD employee I very much hope this wasn't the most impressive attack the US military could put together on a week's notice and that this reflects deliberate restraint rather than a lack of capability or willingness to assume risk. Certainly the Iranian reaction to the attack thus far has been more eye-roll than fire and fury, with denials of significant damage or even casualties.
-He's hopefully got out of a tight spot with little damage done: most especially without starting WW3 for the demented Israeli mafia and the Holy Rapture brigade.
Re: While you were sleeping, Trump hit Iran with SLAMs…
the clapping seal whores in congress are all falling in line of course, but this should remove any lingering doubts the MAGA cap crowd have that they have been had by donny conman.
A lot depends on the next days/weeks and what response Iran makes. It could be inversely proportional; if they attack US assets/personel on the region the MAGAts will probably fall back behind the flag.
The corporate media are complicit in the Gaza genocide. Never forget what they did. Never forgive them for it.
What Did the U.S. Achieve with Its Overnight Strikes on Three Targets in Iran?
1. Iran’s critical nuclear infrastructure appears largely intact or only slightly damaged.
2. Uranium enrichment — and now openly, future nuclear weapons production — will continue.
3. Several countries are reportedly willing to supply Iran with nuclear warheads directly.
4. Israel is under fire; explosions are rocking cities and panic is spreading.
5. The U.S. is now entangled in a new conflict, with the possibility of a ground war looming.
6. Iran’s political system remains stable — if anything, it may have emerged stronger.
7. Public support has rallied around Iran’s religious leadership, even from previous critics.
8. Trump, who came into office branding himself a peace president, has now launched another war.
9. Most of the world opposes the actions of Israel and the United States.
10. With results like these, Trump can forget about a Nobel Peace Prize — even a corrupt committee wouldn’t go that far. Quite the start, Mr. President.
Thanks for posting this even though parts of it should scare the shit out of everyone
Posted by RaskolnikovX on June 22, 2025, 4:33 pm, in reply to "Medvedev’s take"
particularly "3. Several countries are reportedly willing to supply Iran with nuclear warheads directly."
"Several countries" presumably is Pakistan and/or Russia (maybe the mad midget over in PukHan).
I can see Iran having to go after full nuclear status now, by hook or crook.
I think the best option is that donny scumbag wanted a one shot and done deal, lie about the results to make him look like the big man, and hope he can then back away and leave the apartheid out to dry.
Iran's best move would be to pound the zionist lunatics rather than US assets as that won't get the US public on the side of a major war.
Scary, scary situation and needs saner heads that donny conman and nuttyahoo in charge of it.The corporate media are complicit in the Gaza genocide. Never forget what they did. Never forgive them for it.
on June 22, 2025, 3:27 am