Theodore Postol is a retired MIT physics professor who was a guide to the Pentagon on nuclear weapons and missile protection. He lately printed a presentation on Iran’s nuclear weapons functionality, which he summarized in a YouTube interview. Professor Postol explains, in appreciable element, how the development of a deliverable fission bomb is properly throughout the capabilities of Iran. His full presentation .PDF is on the market right here, and I’ll present a number of the key slides. Curiously,this info has not been reported within the mass media. I’ll clarify why it is a large story, and why it has been suppressed.
How Iran Can Construct a Bomb
To make an operational nuclear weapon, Iran wants three issues:
1. Fissile materials
Utilizing info gathered by the Worldwide Atomic Vitality Affiliation (IAEA) monitoring Iran’s nuclear actions, Professor Postol lays our a series of reasoning beginning with the present stockpile of 60% enriched U235 and ending with the creation of bomb-grade U235 adequate for making a number of fission bombs. There isn’t a proof that the 60% enriched materials was destroyed in the course of the latest assaults by Israel and the U.S., and Iran would have been extremely motivated to securely retailer this comparatively small amount of fabric.
Postol July 24, 2025 presentation web page 2
A key level of this presentation is that Iran’s current stockpile of 60% enriched U235 may be additional enriched to a weapons grade of 83.7% with a fraction of the assets required to carry out the unique enrichment from U238, and that the manufacturing services wanted would simply slot in a small industrial constructing.
2. A compact bomb design
The best design for a nuclear bomb makes use of U235 and creates a crucial mass by very quickly becoming a member of sub-critical parts of the fissile materials by explosive means. This was the tactic used within the atomic bomb that the U.S. dropped on Hiroshima. The physics figuring out the outcomes are so simple that no testing is required. The explosive yield of a missile-deliverable rudimentary warhead of this kind is comparatively low (10-20 kilotons) in comparison with plutonium fission or thermonuclear weapons, however it’s adequate to destroy a metropolis.
Postol July 24, 2025 presentation web page 27
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The estimated explosive yield of the bomb design described by Professor Postol, 7 to twenty kilotons, can be roughly equal in damaging energy to the bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945 (15 kilotons). Hiroshima’s inhabitants at the moment (350,00) was roughly the identical dimension as that of current day Haifa (290,00).
3. An efficient supply system
Iran possesses a number of missile methods able to delivering a 100 kg nuclear payload from Iran to Israel, together with Sejjil-2, Khaybar Shekan, Fattah, and Dezful. All of those allow nuclear warhead supply and have further payload capability for decoys to counter interceptor missiles. Maneuvering and hypersonic designs (e.g., Khaybar Shekan and Fattah) additional complicate Israeli defenses.
Strategic Implications of an Iranian Bomb
The principle worth for Iran of getting a nuclear weapons functionality is deterrence. Israel can now not threaten Iran with full destruction by way of nuclear assault or a full-fledged U.S. floor invasion. Even a couple of nuclear missiles might solely devastate Israel and inflict unacceptable casualties on U.S. forces within the area.
Whereas Israel has a complicated civil protection system oriented towards typical and chemical missile threats, it lacks the infrastructure to guard the final inhabitants from radiation publicity following a nuclear assault. There are restricted radiation-hardened shelters, no mass fallout safety for city populations, and no publicly disclosed national-scale radiation response system. Israel’s nuclear protection technique leans closely on deterrence and interception, not inhabitants shielding in opposition to nuclear aftermath.
A ten-kiloton nuclear detonation over Tel Aviv might trigger as much as 100,000 instant deaths and half 1,000,000 complete casualties, whereas a strike on Haifa might end in 40,000–70,000 deaths and 300,000+ injured, particularly if industrial zones are hit. These are conservative estimates; precise numbers may very well be increased relying on detonation specifics and emergency response functionality. The financial, environmental, and geopolitical penalties can be catastrophic. Nuclear strikes in opposition to Iran by Israel can be equally horrific.
The opportunity of an Iranian nuclear strike nullifies Israel’s typical missile protection doctrine of solely intercepting missiles projected to strike populated areas or crucial infrastructure. Whereas such selective engagement conserves interceptor assets throughout typical assaults, it turns into untenable when going through a possible nuclear menace. Even a low-yield nuclear detonation causes widespread destruction — together with blast injury, thermal radiation, EMP, and fallout — far past a single influence level, making any missile that enters nationwide airspace a strategic menace. On this context, all incoming ballistic missiles should be handled as doubtlessly nuclear-armed, no matter their projected trajectory. This necessitates full engagement of all targets, no matter whether or not they seem to threaten particular buildings. In consequence, the presence and even the suspicion of nuclear warheads dramatically will increase the burden on missile protection methods and undermines any protection technique primarily based on triaging perceived danger.
It’s possible that Iran will observe the instance of Israel and refuse to declare its possession of nuclear weapons. This may protect this system considerably from criticism, however sufficient info will probably be leaked or found to make the nuclear functionality credible. It’s a unhappy irony that aggressive army motion to stop Iran’s growth of a nuclear weapon might have lastly satisfied Iran that such a growth is important.
The Silence of the Sheep
The absence of commentary within the mainstream media on Professor Postol’s declaration of an Iranian nuclear functionality may be defined primarily by the timidity of at this time’s mass media. Reporting this story would make Trump’s declaration of ending Iran’s nuclear program seem silly. This might set off punitive motion by the Trump administration in opposition to the enterprise pursuits of the media house owners. Editors and journalists might conceal their political fears by declaring that there isn’t any affirmation of Postol’s assertions by the U.S. intelligence neighborhood, however this is similar neighborhood that has been spinning like a climate vane within the political winds, alternately confirming and denying Iran’s nuclear weapons program for years.
Conclusion
Primarily based on Professor Postol’s arguments, it is rather possible that Iran both already has a deliverable nuclear weapon, or that it might produce one within the very close to future. This growth means a lifeless finish for Israel’s technique of eliminating Iran as a regional adversary. Israel will be unable to steer the U.S. to invade a nuclear-armed Iran, and Israel will now not be capable of threaten Iran with a nuclear strike with out worry of nuclear retaliation. The misguided militaristic overseas insurance policies of Israel and the U.S. have resulted in one other occasion of nuclear weapons proliferation, and extra will possible observe so long as these nations persist in utilizing army pressure as their major geopolitical software. If Israel and the U.S. proceed to reside by the sword, they are going to discover nuclear swords showing within the arms of different nations.
