Iran's Nuclear Reactor

The reversal of Iran’s nuclear ambitions used to be central to US foreign policy. It was a major crisis in the making. By invading Iraq – the wrong target – George W Bush lost the necessary political and military capital to invade Iran and stop its weapons programme.

On Saturday Iran connected a nuclear reactor to its national grid, and there has been barely a squeak from the US. Of course, Iran says it is developing its nuclear ability for purely peaceful purposes, and of course this is not the case. There would not be many countries one would believe in these circumstances, but particularly not one with a Mercury-Mars conjunction in Pisces in the 8th House square to Neptune. There the issue is being deceptive even when you don’t have to be.

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In his Presidential campaign, Obama said he would do everything in his power to stop Iran developing nuclear weapons, which doesn’t sound like someone who thinks you can just invade. It seems clear that the US, faced with so many other difficulties, has given up on this one.

In its natal chart, Iran has Venus at 3 Pisces in the 7th. Venus and the 7th both describe relations with others. Neptune is starting to cross the Iran Venus.

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The chart for the reactor being connected has Neptune conjunct the MC, square the Moon in Scorpio and opposite Mercury (communication.) It seems to be Neptune wherever one looks.

Of course, with Neptune one never quite knows. All you do know is that the situation is not what is being presented. But it would be very odd if Iran’s ‘peaceful’ programme were not also to be used to build up weapons grade material as a by-product.

The chart for all nuclear activity is based on the first man-made controlled chain reaction in Chicago in 1942. This chart has the Sun in Sag opposite a Saturn-Uranus conjunction: the splitting (Uranus) of matter (Saturn). This opposition, particularly 8-10 degrees of Gemini-Sag, is what has come to be known as the Nuclear Axis, and it has proved very sensitive to transits.

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The early 60s, when Pluto in Virgo squared this axis, was at the height of MAD, or Mutual Assured Destruction, which involved the advent of ballistic missile submarines that ensured a 'second strike capability'.

In the early to mid seventies, Neptune in Sagittarius crossed this axis, and this was the time of the SALT I & II talks, which for the first time limited the nuclear arsenals of the USA and the USSR.

In the late nineties, Pluto in Sagittarius crossed this axis, and this was the time when India and Pakistan came out as nuclear powers, beginning a new era of proliferation.

Now we have Neptune coming up to square this axis, exactly in about 5 years: sometime during that period, we can expect Iran to develop nuclear weapons, hugely shifting the balance of military power in the Middle East away from American/Israeli domination. If we look further ahead, to 8 years time, then we see a Progressed Moon-Pluto-Asc conjunction in the nuclear chart, and transiting Pluto hard-aspecting the Angles on the Israeli chart. We also see Uranus starting to conjoin the Iranian MC, and Neptune starting to conjoin the Iranian Mars. You don’t need to know much astrology to see trouble brewing here.

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The thing about Iran is that its Uranus in Scorpio conjoins the Scorpio Mars of the nuclear chart. So it is likely to behave in a very unpredictable, threatening, and at the same time secretive, manner once it possesses nuclear weapons. So while we may not see an actual exchange of weapons, Iran is likely to use its possession of them to keep everyone guessing as to whether it would use them, and to keep the Middle East in a state of instability.

It’s quite possible that Iran may in the meantime join the ‘Arab Spring’ and have a new government through popular protest. It did this before, in 1979, when it had its theocratic revolution. There are 2 charts for Iran: the chart for the February Revolution, which is a chart that expresses the will of the people. And the chart for April 1979, when the new state was founded, and this is a chart for the government. It is the government that has been making the nuclear decisions, and that is therefore the chart I have been using for its nuclear matters.

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But the chart for the people suggests that they are not happy, that there is a lot of unrest. There were protests earlier this year as Mars in Aquarius (the signature for these uprisings) passed over the Aquarian Sun-Mars of the Feb Iran Chart. But bigger change would seem to be in the way, because of the Moon Rising in early Aries, and MC in early Capricorn. With Pluto and Uranus already hard-aspecting these 3 points (Moon, Asc and MC), I’m surprised more has not happened. I expect a big change in government in the next couple of years, an outcome of popular protest.

But that doesn’t mean a change in nuclear policy. I think any country in Iran’s position vis-à-vis America and Israel would do the same. That doesn’t mean I support them in their ambitions, it’s just realpolitik.