Lex Fridman Podcast
#473 โ Iran War Debate: Nuclear Weapons, Trump, Peace, Power & the Middle East
But you want to get to, quote, 90%.
Lex Fridman Podcast
#473 โ Iran War Debate: Nuclear Weapons, Trump, Peace, Power & the Middle East
That's weapons-grade uranium as Scott's defining it.
Lex Fridman Podcast
#473 โ Iran War Debate: Nuclear Weapons, Trump, Peace, Power & the Middle East
But just again, to clarify,
Lex Fridman Podcast
#473 โ Iran War Debate: Nuclear Weapons, Trump, Peace, Power & the Middle East
These huge stockpiles of 60% that Iran has accumulated, this 16, 17 bombs worth of 60%, is 99% of what they need for weapons grade.
Lex Fridman Podcast
#473 โ Iran War Debate: Nuclear Weapons, Trump, Peace, Power & the Middle East
So I just wanted to explain that.
Lex Fridman Podcast
#473 โ Iran War Debate: Nuclear Weapons, Trump, Peace, Power & the Middle East
Again, just to clarify, I just think it's important to understand the definition of terms.
Lex Fridman Podcast
#473 โ Iran War Debate: Nuclear Weapons, Trump, Peace, Power & the Middle East
Once you have 60% enriched uranium, you've done 99% of all the steps, including some of the steps that Scott's talking about.
Lex Fridman Podcast
#473 โ Iran War Debate: Nuclear Weapons, Trump, Peace, Power & the Middle East
You've done 99% of what you need to have weapons-grade uranium.
Lex Fridman Podcast
#473 โ Iran War Debate: Nuclear Weapons, Trump, Peace, Power & the Middle East
a deliverable nuclear weapon, so you need the weapons grade uranium.
Lex Fridman Podcast
#473 โ Iran War Debate: Nuclear Weapons, Trump, Peace, Power & the Middle East
And just to repeat, they have multiple bombs worth of the 60% enriched uranium, which again is 99% of the steps you need to take for weapons grade.
Lex Fridman Podcast
#473 โ Iran War Debate: Nuclear Weapons, Trump, Peace, Power & the Middle East
So they're very close to weapons grade.
Lex Fridman Podcast
#473 โ Iran War Debate: Nuclear Weapons, Trump, Peace, Power & the Middle East
That's 1% more that they need to do to enrich to weapons grade.
Lex Fridman Podcast
#473 โ Iran War Debate: Nuclear Weapons, Trump, Peace, Power & the Middle East
The second aspect of a deliverable nuclear weapon is obviously the delivery vehicle, and those are the missiles.
Lex Fridman Podcast
#473 โ Iran War Debate: Nuclear Weapons, Trump, Peace, Power & the Middle East
And the
Lex Fridman Podcast
#473 โ Iran War Debate: Nuclear Weapons, Trump, Peace, Power & the Middle East
According to the DNI and other incredible sources, Iran has got the largest missile inventory in the Middle East, 3,000 missiles before the war began, and at least the ballistic missiles, 2,000 capable of reaching Israel.
Lex Fridman Podcast
#473 โ Iran War Debate: Nuclear Weapons, Trump, Peace, Power & the Middle East
So there's no doubt that Iran has the ability, once they have the weapons-grade uranium and the warhead, to affix that to a missile and deliver that.
Lex Fridman Podcast
#473 โ Iran War Debate: Nuclear Weapons, Trump, Peace, Power & the Middle East
Certainly to hit Israel, hit our Gulf neighbors, hit Southern Europe.
Lex Fridman Podcast
#473 โ Iran War Debate: Nuclear Weapons, Trump, Peace, Power & the Middle East
They also have an active intercontinental ballistic missile program, an ICBM program, which ultimately is designed not to hit the Israelis or the Gulfies, but to hit Iranians.
Lex Fridman Podcast
#473 โ Iran War Debate: Nuclear Weapons, Trump, Peace, Power & the Middle East
deeper into Europe and ultimately to target the United States.
Lex Fridman Podcast
#473 โ Iran War Debate: Nuclear Weapons, Trump, Peace, Power & the Middle East
So let's just understand the missile program.