Uranium ore that miners dig up is relatively harmless. But it contains tiny amounts of a rare radioactive isotope, Uranium 235, that can be used to power nuclear reactors at low levels of enrichment, and to fuel atom bombs at higher levels. The percentage of U-235 in mined uranium is less than 1 percent.

Hours after Israel launched its first, surprise attack, the message from Benjamin Netanyahu couldn't be clearer - Iranians, he said, should overthrow their "evil and oppressive regime".