Iran & America: A Century and Counting · Episode 9 of 11 · 22 min
Stuxnet: The Cyberweapon That Sabotaged Iran's Nuclear Program
Stuxnet, a covert U.S.-Israeli cyber campaign, physically wrecked thousands of centrifuges at Natanz and opened an era of digital sabotage. It bought time without resolving the crisis. Crushing banking and oil sanctions, plus a secret backchannel through Oman, then began pushing Iran toward negotiations.
Who's who
- Barack Obama+3 more episodesPresident who paired heavy sanctions with an offer of direct talks
- Hassan Rouhani+1 more episodePragmatist elected Iranian president in 2013
- Javad Zarif+1 more episodeIranian foreign minister in the later talks
Where it happens
- Natanz, Iran+1 more episodeEnrichment site where centrifuges were physically destroyed
- Oman+1 more episodeHost of the secret U.S.–Iran backchannel
Timeline
- 2002Natanz's secret enrichment site is exposed.
- About 2007–2010Stuxnet damages Iranian centrifuges at Natanz.
- 2011A secret backchannel through Oman opens.
- 2013Rouhani's election accelerates the backchannel talks.
Still debated
Whether Iran sought a bomb remains disputed. U.S. intelligence and the IAEA have long distinguished between enrichment capability and a decision to build a weapon, and intent versus leverage or latency is still argued.
← PreviousAxis of Evil to Stuxnet: How the Iran Nuclear Crisis BeganNext →How the Iran Nuclear Deal Collapsed: JCPOA, Maximum Pressure & Soleimani
