AFP Asia Business

A powerful American bunker-busting bomb is the only weapon capable of destroying Iran’s deeply buried nuclear facilities, making it President Donald Trump’s weapon of choice if he chooses to militarily back Israel.The GBU-57, a 30,000-pound (13,607 kg) warhead capable of penetrating 200 feet (61 meters) underground before exploding, is missing from Israel’s arsenal despite its stated goal of preventing Iran from building a nuclear bomb.- Why this bomb? -In less than a week, the Israeli army has taken out Iranian military commanders and damaged numerous surface installations, raising more questions than answers.”The regime’s missile stockpiles, launchers, military bases, production facilities, nuclear scientists, military command and control has taken a very severe beating,” said Behnam Ben Taleblu, director of the Iran program at the Washington-based think tank Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), a conservative-leaning group. “But there are still outsized questions as to how efficacious of a strike Israel had against the beating hearts of Iran’s nuclear program,” Taleblu said.The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has reported no damage at Fordo, a uranium enrichment plant south of Tehran. Unlike the Natanz and Isfahan sites in central Iran, Fordo is buried deep underground, beyond the reach of Israeli bombs.”All eyes will be on Fordo, which is buried under about 300 feet of rock in central Iran,” Taleblu said.Former US Army lieutenant general and Rand Corporation defense researcher Mark Schwartz insists that “only the United States has the conventional capacity” to destroy such a site. And by “conventional capacity,” he means the non-nuclear GBU-57 bomb.- What are its capabilities? -The US military says the GBU-57 — also named Massive Ordnance Penetrator — “is designed to penetrate up to 200 feet underground before exploding,” navigating through rock and concrete.This differs from missiles or bombs that typically detonate their payload near or upon impact.”To defeat these deeply buried targets, these weapons need to be designed with rather thick casings of steel, hardened steel, to sort of punch through these layers of rock,” said Masao Dahlgren, a fellow working on missile defense for the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a Washington-based research center.The 6.6-meter-long GBU-57 also has a specialized fuse because “you need an explosive that’s not going to immediately explode under that much shock and pressure,” Dahlgren said.Design for this bomb began in the early 2000s, and an order for 20 units was placed with Boeing in 2009.- How is it deployed? – The only aircraft capable of deploying the GBU-57 is an American B-2 Bomber, a stealth aircraft.Some of these bombers were deployed in early May on Diego Garcia, the site of a joint UK-US military base in the Indian Ocean, but were no longer visible by mid-June, according to AFP’s analysis of satellite imagery provided by Planet Labs.With their long-range capabilities, B-2s departing from the United States “are able to fly all the way to the Middle East to do bombing runs. That’s been done before,” Dahlgren said.Each B-2 can carry two GBU-57 bombs, and Schwartz said multiple bombs will likely be needed.”They’re not going to just be one and done,” he said. Schwartz added that the air superiority Israel has established over Iran reduces the risks faced by the B-2 bombers.- What are the consequences? -Such a US intervention would come with “a lot of political baggage for America,” Taleblu said, emphasizing that the bunker-buster bomb is not the only way to address Iran’s nuclear program. Without the GBU-57 bombs, and short of a diplomatic solution, Taleblu said Israelis could attack access to underground complexes like Fordo by “trying to hit entrances, collapse what they can, cut electricity” and take other measures that have already been taken at Natanz.

Bustling Taipei-style shopping streets, majestic temples to the island’s deities and thriving factories dot the eastern Chinese city of Kunshan, for years a hub for Taiwanese businesses.But now those firms are feeling the strain from cross-Strait tensions that have stoked safety fears among companies.Taiwanese entrepreneurs — known as “Taishang” in Mandarin — poured billions into …

Taiwan’s entrepreneurs in China feel heat from cross-Strait tensions Read More »

A member of the provocative Irish rap group Kneecap, charged with a terror offence for allegedly showing support for Hezbollah, was due to appear in a London court Wednesday.Liam O’Hanna, 27, known by his stage name Mo Chara, was charged in May after being accused of displaying a Hezbollah flag during a London concert last November. He will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court. The Iran-backed Lebanese force Hezbollah and the Palestinian militant group Hamas are banned in the UK and it is an offence to show support for them.Kneecap, which has recently grabbed headlines for brazen statements denouncing the war in Gaza and against Israel, has denied the charge and called for fans to show up outside court and support the singer.”We deny this ‘offence’ and will vehemently defend ourselves. This is political policing. This is a carnival of distraction,” the Belfast band wrote on X last month.The raucous punk-rap group has also said the video which led to the charge was taken out of context.O’Hanna told the audience at South London’s Wide Awake Festival in May that the charge was an attempt to “silence us” after several of their performances were cancelled.A performance in Scotland was pulled over safety concerns, various shows in Germany were axed, and the UK government ministers had suggested Glastonbury should reconsider their appearance at the popular festival.Daring provocateurs to their fans, dangerous extremists to their detractors, the group rap in the Irish language as well as English.Formed in 2017, the group is no stranger to controversy. Their lyrics are filled with references to drugs, they have repeatedly clashed with the UK’s previous Conservative government and have vocally opposed British rule in Northern Ireland.Last year, the group was catapulted to international fame by a semi-fictional film based on them that scooped multiple awards including at the Sundance festival.- ‘Unfazed’ -O’Hanna, Liam Og O Hannaidh in Gaelic, was charged last month after London’s Metropolitan Police investigated a video from the festival in Kentish Town, north London, in November 2024.He is accused of displaying a flag “in such a way or in such circumstances as to arouse reasonable suspicion that he is a supporter of a proscribed organisation”, police said.Other videos circulating online appear to show a band member shouting “Up Hamas, up Hezbollah”. The group also apologised this year after a 2023 video emerged appearing to show one singer calling for the death of British Conservative MPs. Rich Peppiatt, who directed the film about Kneecap, told AFP this week the group was “unfazed” by the legal charge and controversies.”Even through all the controversy at the moment, they just shrug their shoulders and get on with it,” Peppiatt said.”They’ve always been controversial at a local level, and they’ve always bounced back from it,” he added.In its statement following the charge, the group said: “14,000 babies are about to die of starvation in Gaza, with food sent by the world sitting on the other side of a wall, and once again the British establishment is focused on us.””We are not the story. Genocide is,” it added.Israel has repeatedly denied that it is committing genocide in its offensive in Gaza, which it claims aims to wipe out Hamas.Prominent British musicians and groups including Paul Weller, Massive Attack, Brian Eno, Pulp and Primal Scream have defended the group and signed a letter denouncing a “concerted attempt to censor and de-platform Kneecap”.Campaign group “Love Music Hate Racism” called for supporters to “defend Mo Chara on 18 June outside Westminster Magistrates Court”.