Iran’s secret weapon to “cripple Israel” revealed: WaPo

American and “Israeli” strikes against Iran in June have reportedly delivered a significant blow to Tehran's advanced weapons programs, most notably the development of a sophisticated "electromagnetic pulse (EMP) weapon".

This device was purportedly designed with the specific intent to "cripple Israel electronically", according to a report by The Washington Post based on “Israeli” sources.

The 12-day war targeted Iran's efforts to develop two distinct types of nuclear warheads: a standard fission warhead and a more complex fusion warhead, the report added.

Beyond these nuclear ambitions, the military campaign significantly degraded Iran's ballistic missile arsenal, with approximately half of its estimated 3,000 ballistic missiles and 80% of its 500 missile launchers reportedly destroyed or rendered inoperable.

An Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) is a powerful, instantaneous burst of electromagnetic energy, typically generated by a high-altitude nuclear detonation. Unlike conventional kinetic weapons, an EMP attack causes no direct physical damage to structures and no immediate loss of life. Instead, its destructive power is concentrated solely on electronic devices and equipment, rendering them inoperable.

Dr. Lowell Wood, a nuclear weapons designer, describes the phenomenon as "really severe static electricity, everywhere, all at once".

The potential impact of an EMP attack on critical infrastructure is catastrophic. Such an event could destroy a society’s electronic systems, including the power grid, telecommunications networks, transportation systems, banking and finance, and essential services like food, water, and medical care.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard reportedly advocated for the development of an EMP device as an "alternative to nuclear arms".

The reported assassinations of Iran's top physicists and nuclear scientists, combined with the military strikes, are believed to have halted the development of both the EMP device and the fusion-warhead project. The damage inflicted upon these programs is described as extensive and difficult to reverse.

However, the military operations also revealed an "unwelcome surprise": “Israel” discovered that Iran possessed a larger-than-expected arsenal of solid-fuel missiles, which are inherently "more difficult to shoot down".

A “well-informed Israeli source” cited in The Washington Post claimed that "Iran is no longer a nuclear threshold state". While Iran still possesses uranium enriched to 60%, a level far beyond what is needed for civilian use, weaponization would now be extremely challenging, estimated to require one to two years if attempted covertly, with “Israel” likely able to detect and destroy such efforts.