David Ignatius, a reporter with the Washington Post who has come a long away since his anti-Israel days, recently wrote in an op-ed about what Israel managed to achieve in its 12-day air war against Iran, widely believed to have been limited to the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program and its ballistic missile manufacturing. The IDF wrought still more destruction, on other weapons Iran was developing that is only now coming to light. You can find out more about Israel’s accomplishments in Operation Rising Lion here: “Washington Post columnist claims Rising Lion op. destroyed Iranian attempts to develop EMP weapon,” Jerusalem Post, July 26, 2025:
Israel’s Operation Rising Lion may have disrupted Iranian efforts to construct an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) weapon, a nuclear fusion bomb, and a standard fission warhead, Washington Post columnist David Ignatius claimed in an op-ed published Saturday, citing Israeli sources.
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) leaders had allegedly encouraged the efforts to develop EMP weapons because it wouldn’t violate Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s fatwa against nuclear weapons, Israeli sources allegedly told Ignatius.
But we all know that Iran was making tremendous efforts to enrich uranium in order to produce nuclear fission bombs. Can it be that Khamenei’s fatwa was meant to be taken seriously, but Iran’s military men simply ignored it, or was that fatwa issued only in order to relieve anxieties in the West that might lead — as we know happened — to an attack on its nuclear program? What was apparently going on simultaneously with Iran’s nuclear fission program were other programs, equally worrisome in their potential destructiveness. One was a nuclear fusion program. And another program, the most alarming of all, was underway to develop a weapon that uses electromagnetic pulses to destroy electronic equipment.
An EMP weapon is designed to generate a powerful burst of electromagnetic radiation, capable of disrupting or damaging electronic equipment and infrastructure, according to a fact sheet published by the Washington State Department of Health’s Division of Environmental Health Office of Radiation Protection.
Israeli attacks also reportedly destroyed 3,000 ballistic missiles and 80% of its 500 missile launchers.
In addition, the IDF destroyed dozens of sites connected to Iran’s nuclear program, and severally damaged, but apparently did not completely destroy, the vast nuclear facility at Isfahan and the arrays of uranium-enriching centrifuges built underground at Natanz and inside a mountain at Fordow.
John Jake says
The “Washington State Department of Health’s Division of Environmental Health Office of Radiation Protection” for the most part talks a lot of convoluted nonsense when it comes to so-called “EMP weapons.” They put this hooey out there to make themselves SEEM relevant.
Generating this so-called “Pulse” would require an impossibly enormous amount of energy to have any serious significant effect on communications infrastructure.
Notice the following phrasing “capable of disrupting or damaging electronic equipment and infrastructure” has no details about any values of energy release that would damage specific communication infrastructure. I’m not a fan of Iran advancing technically with weaponry in any regard but these tax-eating entities like “”Washington State Department of Health’s Division of Environmental Health Office of Radiation Protection” are just self-imposed organized tax eating scumbags.
gravenimage says
Your idea that Iran disrupting our electronic equipment being fine is very odd.
Santa says
Imagine what will happpen to this country if we completely lost the use of Cell Phones, Computers, Medical Equipment, Emergency Comunication Networks and Electric Vehicles? Include Airplanse and gas driven cars as well. That is what an EMP will destroy unless the device is protected in an EMP proof box.
John Jake says
Can you define what “disrupting our electronic equipment” specifically means? I ‘m not saying disrupting electronic communications doesn’t exist or is impractical. I’m talking about this concept known as EMP. Can you define that?
Bazz says
When a strong magnetic field passes through a conductor it causes current to flow.
If the current is large enough it can “burn out” transistors, diodes etc etc. Steps are taken where antenna feed line enter equipment but the field might just be too strong.
gravenimage says
+1
John Jake says
To Bazz:
What does that have to do with a so-called EMP? What you’re talking about is electromagnetic induction. Yes, what you said is true but the energy transfer you’re talking about is miniscule, on an almost infinite scale compared to what people actually imagine a so-called EMP can generate.
People have been led to believe this concept of using “EMP” as a weapon because a nuclear explosion can effect electronic devices within perhaps a 1/2 mile of the explosion. As a result, this fallacy has spawned the idea that such a disruption could be harnessed and used to knock out an enemy’s communication infrastructure without killing tens of thousands of people. The problem is that this is a completely false concept. I can start challenging people here and ask specifics like -tell me the power rating of this so-called EMP in terms dbm- but it would be a waste of time and space. I worked as an electrical engineer all my life so I know what I’m talking about,
To Robert, I hope you allow this post to go through as I’m not looking for one-upmanship (poor spelling, I know). I just wanted to point out the nefarious ways our government pushes ideas out into the general public for their corrupt funding projects at the expense of unknowing taxpayers. Although I can see through this idea I’m sure there many government projects people can point to me, showing my naivety, if you will.
Joe1 says
Engineers have run the calculations on an EMP weapon. It is a thing, but the radius is less than 20 miles. And inside the target zone, the damage is speculative. So yeah, EMPs are not as bad as they have been made out to be.
A fusion bomb is a step up from a fission version. We know the Iranians were enriching the Uranium, however it is not a given that they could use it. The fuel is only part of the design. They have to get the enriched Uranium to critical mass. People do it, but it is not as simple as lighting a fuse. For example, the USA uses Plutonium triggers on their fusion bombs.
gravenimage says
Israel, Nuclear Fusion, And Iran’s Electromagnetic Pulse Weapon
……………………………..
Good to hear!
JustJim says
If, in fact, Israel completed the amount of damage, as mentioned in the article, then I would say, “That’s a good star!”.