This is for everyone that has an interest in the U.S. vs Iran war, and in what has been happening in the Middle East. Most have heard of the virus Stuxnet from years ago. Most do not know that it is a direct link to current hostilities. There is a documentary called Zero Days that explains it. I will place the link below, and write a condensed explanation here. However this summary is no substitute for the original work, and if you have the ability, go watch it while it is still available. When other nations in the region tried to build nuclear programs in the past, 'Our Greatest Ally' (hereafter referred to as OGA) bombed them: Iraq in 1981, and Syria in 2007. Iran was deemed in the past to be an adversary of a greater magnitude, and direct military confrontation was frowned upon. The Iranians had a powerful military and had fortified areas around their program. The U.S. intel agencies mandated a project to penetrate the Iranian government databases, and to snoop on their nuclear program. The plan was approved and the operation that created Stuxnet began. The most complex and powerful cyber virus took years to create. When it was finished, the intel team had a formidable problem to overcome: The Iranian nuclear program was very aware that they were the target of many in the west. That danger took on many shapes, one of them being the assassination of some of their nuclear scientists. As a security measure, their nuclear programs computer system was a self contained network: it was not connected to the internet, and there was no way for western intel teams to hack into the system remotely. It would necessitate somehow walking their virus to the site and uploading it once inside. After a long period of discussion and planning, U.S. intel command decided to use the virus and infect one of the subsidiaries of the nuclear program: a smaller company that supplied the program with technical hardware needs. It was hoped that the infected items would then be walked across the 'air gap' and then installed into program databases, effectively jumping the virtual distance between the world's internet, and the Iranian closed network. It worked. After another considerable amount of time, the virus was finally brought into the program inside infected hardware, and installed into the closed network. The U.S. finally had a window into exactly what the Iranians were doing, how far along they were, and even manipulating data and outcomes if they chose to. So the watching began, and Iran was thoroughly monitored. As the Iranian program worked and learned, they became more sophisticated. As the U.S. surveilled the Iranians and watched their nuclear progress, it was decided at various points to mess with their data. When the Iranians would perform a test, we changed and falsified the results. So even when the techs did everything correct, the data would end up showing them a failure. The U.S. hoped to keep the Iranian technicians continually working on various steps, stagnating them, and essentially spending all their energy on a giant hamster wheel: never reaching their goal of progressing further. This entire intel program was initially soley U.S. Eventually OGA wanted to know what we were currently doing about Iran. They were informed of the spying mission. They demanded to be included. Slowly, they got their way and were incrementally included in intel status reports, mission specifics, and then ultimately having a seat at the intel project table. OGA demanded stronger action be taken. They did not want merely observing, they wanted something destructive. U.S. agencies argued that it had taken years to create the virus, years to breach the air gap and gain access to the Iranian databases. And that now we knew what their nuclear progress was, and would manipulate it keeping them running in circles for decades. OGA did not accept this. OGA eventually asked for their own access. They said it was so they could make their own assessment of current status. After many demands it was eventually given to them. They used the access and the Stuxnet virus. Instead of manipulating the data of the Iranians, they altered actual tests. Where a centrifuge might make X number of revolutions per minute, OGA had Stuxnet order the machine to increase it by 10x. The result was catastrophic damage to the working components of the Iranian nuclear program. However The Iranians now knew their security was breached. The equipment could be replaced in a short amount of time. But the access that the U.S. had would never happen again. The end result of all this was: The Iranians were no where close to a nuclear weapon and the west knew it. We had access to their data and tests, and could have prevented any progress from happening indefinitely. OGA ended this by being loud and destructive. The current conflict can be traced back to this impulsive action. Also worth noting: The most complex cyber virus ever created was left in the hardware of Iran. They absolutely had access to this technology now. The full story and details in the documentary Zero Days youtube.com/watch?v=SoRoMykm…