The Wall Street Journal: Mount Kahlan, Iran’s last remaining facility—and Trump’s next target

The Wall Street Journal: Mount Kahlan, Iran’s last remaining facility—and Trump’s next target

♦The authors of this article, noting that Donald Trump’s attention is now focused on “Mount Kahlan,” wrote that the U.S. and Israel did not attack it during the midnight “hammer” operation and with the kind of heroic fury claimed in the description. At the time, sources said the center was either too deep underground (about 100 to 145 meters) or not important enough. The second assessment, as the Wall Street Journal’s report on the transfer of centrifuges to Mount Kahlan shows, was short-sighted.

The U.S. newspaper writes that the construction of facilities like Mount Kahlan is not solely for storing centrifuges. This site is the dream enrichment facility of the Iranian government; an ideal place for a rapid leap toward producing uranium with military-grade capability.

The Wall Street Journal says that is why the U.S. action is necessary. Trump justifies his interventions in Iran with the aim of stopping the nuclear program. But it is not reasonable for such an action to be carried out and, in the end, for the Iranian government to still have a hidden ace up its sleeve, without any reasonable guarantee for inspections.

The article adds that the technical question of how much the bombs from the United States can damage these facilities is important. But even if the center is not completely destroyed, attacking it would still be valuable for delaying the program or blocking access to the site.

Given the main objective at hand, the U.S. president could even consider authorizing a special-operations mission for this purpose. The same applies to Iran’s stockpiles of enriched uranium.

As the Wall Street Journal writes, further attacks are unlikely to change the Iranian government’s will, but the 10-day ceasefire that mediators—and, according to reports, Tehran—are seeking also will not solve anything; because Iran still intends to dominate the Strait of Hormuz and rebuild its nuclear program.

As a result, the real options left are: Either the U.S. steps back, leaving the remaining part of Iran’s nuclear program intact and ceding control of the Strait of Hormuz to Iran; or it takes decisive action to open the strait and further weaken Iran’s nuclear program.

If Mount Kahlan has now become the main subject of Trump’s attention, it indicates a broader strategic choice that awaits his decision.

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