Operation Epic Fury and Iran War Justifications

Nuclear scientists and nonproliferation experts told MS Now that Iran’s U.S.-built Tehran Research Reactor, which the Trump administration has cited as central to its case for bombing Iran, is not well suited to quickly producing a nuclear weapon and that the White House has provided no public or congressional evidence it was being used to stockpile bomb fuel. The report details that 36 hours before strikes began, Iranian negotiators and Oman’s foreign minister presented U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner with a seven-page nuclear proposal, but the Americans — who did not bring technical nuclear experts, according to a senior Middle East diplomat — rejected Iran’s request to keep using 20%-enriched uranium at the research reactor. Witkoff has claimed on a conservative radio show that IAEA chief Rafael Grossi confronted Iran with proof it had stopped burning fuel at the reactor and was stockpiling 20% uranium, calling it a “Perry Mason” moment, but the IAEA has not confirmed his account despite multiple requests, and a Persian Gulf diplomat involved in the talks calls Witkoff’s description “spin” taken out of context. A White House spokesperson insists Iran was stockpiling near–weapons‑grade uranium and that Operation Epic Fury is needed to stop it from ever getting a bomb, yet lawmakers briefed in classified sessions say officials did not allege that the Tehran Research Reactor itself was being used as a covert stockpile for weapons purposes. The mounting discrepancy between technical experts, regional diplomats and the administration’s rhetoric is fueling comparisons on social media to the pre‑Iraq WMD debate and intensifying pressure on Congress to see the underlying IAEA evidence, if it exists.