The latest (on BBC) is that the Ayatollah claims that the USA didn't gain anything from the strikes. Is this a wise statement to make? Is he trying to taunt the USA into trying again?

Do you think that his message was intended for his home audience? I do.

Oh, absolutely as did his message of having defeated Israel. Nevertheless........

The worst thing ever to happen to civility in politics was the advent of the 24 hour news cycle which gave rise to the likes of CNN, MSNBC and FOX here in the US. Media bias and accuracy was escalated to a new level with all that air time to fill.

Do you believe the UN?

This made for interesting reading, irrespective of the passing of the years,

https://www.armscontrolwonk.com/archive/204679/4679/

"November 9, 2011 at 10:54 amI would disagree that a gun-type system is substantially heavier than a modern implosion design, and certainly that it would be so heavy as to require ground delivery. The American W-33 was a gun-assembly uranium bomb with 5-10 kt pure fission yield, weighing ~100kg and fitting in a 20cm diameter case. This would trivially fit on any of Iran’s strategic missiles.

The W-33 seems to have been a rather sophisticated double-gun design, but the TX-8 family (basically evolved Little Boys) included the ~360kg W-9 and the ~720kg Mk-10, both under 30cm diameter. South Africa’s bombs came in at ~1000kg and 60cm diameter; given the choice of aircraft delivery there was no real incentive to try for anything smaller. Building gun-assembly bombs that can fit in Iranian missiles is a straightforward technical exercise, and I would be surprised if the legacy of Iran’s pre-2004 program did not include a contingency plan for such.

The major difference between gun-assembly and implosion assembly is that a gun-assembly bomb requires 50+ kg of HEU, compared to ~15 kg for an implosion bomb. Iran does not have vast quantities of HEU; if some technical inability to produce implosion devices forces them to resort to gun-assembly missile warheads, they will probably be delayed six months to a year in producing enough HEU for their first weapon and their arsenal from that point forward will be diminished by two-thirds."

Undoubtedly, and that would apply to the leaders of all 3 countries. In many ways the ambiguity of a strike that may or may not have hit an underground facility which may or may not have contained equipment and materials associated with a nuclear programme that may or may not have been about to produce a weapon is the perfect compromise; it allows all 3 leaders to save face and tell their loyal supporters what they want to hear, without any awkward evidence that might show they're lying.

Perhaps some air sampling downwind of the target site might be worthwhile?

Another UK capability holiday, no doubt? The FSTA bidders were somewhat askance when they were briefed about air sampling!

One never knows but it would not be a surprise to me to see CNN try and push the story as truth to the progressive Gaza loving left also.

With respect I think many conservatives and moderates that steer right are concerned about Gaza especially children/civilians. Not just the left. Having said that maybe we need to respect Senior Pilot's cool down of the Israel/Palestine discussion.

Quite! A point well made by Hegseth at the post-strike Press Brief to one of the people who asked a question when he basically accused her of being a troublemaker. "Media common sense" is also lacking when a couple of people effectively asked for "full disclosure of intelligence material" re the success or otherwise of the US strike in Iran.

I thought the Generals response was most apt given what he must have been thinking - "Whaaaat? Give you all the sources of our Intel???!!!! Are you nuts????" which seemed to be what was being asked. He didn't actually say that in so many words but I bet that's what he wanted to say!

That said, the advent of 24 hour TV was a boon to the military. Made Guard Duty on the Main Gate in the wee small hours pass much more quickly!!! Happy daze when that happened!!!! :ok:

Maybe if she asked nicely he’d send her the details on Signal.

Video..... :confused:

VideoBREAKING: Bomb destroys a residential apartment in Tehran.

Three killed: two senior officers in the IRGC and a nuclear scientist.

No one has claimed responsibility......

That didn't last long.

Back to asymmetry?

No one has claimed responsibility yet some are already trying to pin it on Israel without any evidence whatsoever.|

Ya'll might as well be that CNN Reporter who ran with the Leaked Intel Report (same Reporter that ran with other false stories) .

What say you wait for someone to provide some evidence first. Reposting X posts does not necessarily equate to "evidence".

Ever stop to think that perhaps there could be a domestic source behind the attack that emanates from the realization that the current Regime is very vulnerable and could be caused by the latest round of oppressive arrests and executions by the Iranian Internal Security Forces?

Just to inform those who refuse to accept how utterly outclassed the Iranian government and military has become due to their failed focus upon what it takes to participate in ones defense in modern times you might take note of what the Head of the IDF has to say.

https://www.ynetnews.com/article/rk11qv2tvge

Sidenote: Perhaps the United States is showing its gratitude to China in its instructing the Iranians not to attempt to close the Hormuz Straits and thus rewarding China for doing the World's economies (including their own) a huge favor by taking that stand against their erstwhile ally Iran. The fact that Russia and China both took actions to not support Iran should not be overlooked.

As neither mod nor admin:
The list of suspects is rather short.
You might say that the media are "rounding up the usual suspects" narratively.
The best exercise these days seems to be leaping to conclusions, here in the TwitterXFarcebookInstaspamYourube age.
(See the "Must have raised the flaps rather than the gear" line for the Air India 171 crash that was smeared all over social media)

Agreed.

It is my opinion that Trump and Xi will have spoken and agreed ahead of the B-2 hits.Likely with Putin also.

China's economy cannot function properly if trade between them and the US is interrupted as the entire Chinese economy is a cash flow economy which is based almost entirely on selling consumer goods to the western world .

I am also of the opinion that Trump will now be putting huge pressure on Putin to settle now that he has managed to put Iran in a box so to speak.

SASless, you make an interesting point.
From what I've been seeing in the news, about 40% of China's petroleum imports come from the nations in the Persian Gulf (yet Russia is China's single biggest petroleum supplier) and they are Iran's best customer for petroeum exports.

China takes care of Number 1 first. :) (Of course they do).