patrick.net

zzyzzx says

Israel hit one target each in Iraq and Syria, but Iran's nuclear assets are spread over multiple sites in different parts of the country. One is buried under concrete. Another is dug into a mountain. Surface-to-air missiles and electronic warfare systems protect them all.

They also are significantly farther away from Israel than the targets in Iraq or Syria.

And they may not be the only sites Israel would need to destroy to achieve its goal.

Bombing Iranian nuclear facilities would be "very complicated," said Ephraim Kam, deputy director of Israel's Institute for National Security Studies.

Just use Tomahawks.

About that screwing...

Europe Sets Up Payment Vehicle For Iran Trade To Sidestep U.S. Sanctions

After months of deliberations, European countries have set up the special payment channel to handle trade with Iran that would allow transactions with Iran, including oil, as the European Union (EU) still works to salvage the nuclear deal with Iran, German broadcaster NDR reported on Thursday.

Germany, France, and the UK have created the payment channel—

‘Instrument in Support Of Trade Exchanges’ (INSTEX)—which will be an alternative channel for transactions with Iran. INSTEX will be based in Paris and managed by an experienced German banker, while the UK will chair the vehicle’s supervisory board, according to the German broadcaster.

Months before the U.S. sanctions on Iran’s oil returned, the EU pledged to create a new payment system, the so-called special-purpose vehicle (SPV), that “will assist and provide reassurance to European businesses wishing to continue trading with Iran, mitigating the effect of re-imposed US sanctions, in accordance with European Law.”

The idea behind the SPV is to have it act as a clearing house into which buyers of Iranian oil would pay, allowing the EU to trade oil with Iran without having to directly pay the Islamic Republic.

Still, the bloc had been struggling for months with the set-up of such a vehicle because no EU member was willing to host it for fear of angering the United States, the Financial Times reported a week before the American sanctions on Iran returned.

The EU hoped that the payment mechanism would be legally in place by the time the U.S. sanctions on Iran returned, but the vehicle was not expected to be operational until early this year.

This week, on Monday, Germany’s Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said that the vehicle “will be registered, it has not yet been registered, but I would say that the implementation of our plan is imminent,” the AP reported.

The French Foreign Ministry told CNN on Thursday that a joint statement regarding the payment vehicle would be sent out later in the day when the foreign ministers of the EU meet in Romania’s capital Bucharest.

https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Europe-Sets-Up-Payment-Vehicle-For-Iran-Trade-To-Sidestep-US-Sanctions.html

Perhaps the reference about being screwed is what happened to the Dotard when he met with Kim. The Art of the Non-Deal once again.

Kim lied about his nukes and the Dotard is still in love with him and wants to meet again so he can reduce sanctions on North Korea and for his part Kim will just have to agree with a mind numbing series of photo ops and go heavy on the flattery and ego stroking for the Dotard.

For all you wanna be bomb droppers on the forum Iran is taking full advantage of the distraction in Venezuela so hold off on the celebration of their demise and how badly they were supposed to be screwed.

willywonka says

Let’s keep nukes out of the Middle East.

Might want to keep an eye on goings on in KSA - just sayin.

MisterLearnToCode says

Something Wonderful Will Happen.

Is this the work around the EU is putting in place to circumvent the Dotard's sanctions ?

Kakistocracy says

Europe Sets Up Payment Vehicle For Iran Trade To Sidestep U.S. Sanctions

Yep, just like they did with Saddam and everybody else. We pay and we deal with all the problems, so they have no incentive not to cheat.

Sanctions are designed to achieve compliance w/o bombs or boots on the ground. By circumventing the former the fucking morons are inviting the latter. Or, at the very minimum, massive explosion of nuclear states. After all, if fucking mad ayatollahs hell-bent on destroying a whole country of Israel and not even hiding it are considered to be suitable for owning nukes in 10 years, why democratic and peaceful countries like Japan or Ukraine should be denied? And can you really make a straight-face argument for denying nukes ownership to SA
after you enable nuclear Iran? Can't really use "they are religious fanatics" argument anymore.