Hear warning of possible EMP attack from Iran

A U.S. senator already has warned that a decision to cancel a U.S. defense system exposes America to a heightened risk of a catastrophic electromagnetic-pulse, or EMP, attack by Iran.

Now, an expert on the subject will present details that should concern every American, particularly in the wake of the U.S. nuclear agreement with Tehran.

A seminar on the Internet Dec. 11 at 1 p.m. Eastern Time will feature Peter Vincent Pry, executive director of the congressional advisory boards of the Task Force on National and Homeland Security and the U.S. Nuclear Strategy Forum.

The webinar is hosted by the Clarion Project, an independently funded, non-profit organization dedicated to exposing the threat of Islamic extremism.

Fry also has been a CIA analyst and staff director of the congressionally mandated EMP Commission.

He's spoken out about the risk of a disastrous EMP attack repeatedly, telling WND and its related G2 Bulletin multiple times about the threat.

Fry will address whether America's recent concessions to Iran will make an EMP attack more likely.

There are two types of EMP attacks that could, experts believe, return America to an 18th century agrarian lifestyle that would cause millions of deaths.

One is a direct hit from a solar flare.

The other would be an EMP from a nuclear explosion in the atmosphere about 50 to 100 miles above the U.S. A basic missile and a crude nuclear device is all that would be needed.

Federal officials have estimated that a direct hit from either could cost $2 trillion in damage the first year and a recovery time frame of four to 10 years.

That means it would affect upwards of 230 million Americans, leaving them without food, water, power, heat and communications – anything dependent on the electrical grid and all of its branches.

Starvation and death would be inevitable for millions, experts believe.

Read the documentation that's sparking the worry about the EMP threat, in "A Nation Forsaken."

Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., recently warned that Iran was using talks with its enemies to stall the international community while it develops a nuclear weapon and delivery system.

"Way back in 2007, our unclassified intelligence said Iran is going to have a nuclear weapon and a delivery system by 2015. That was way back in 2007. That's a year and a half from now and they are right on the road to making that a reality," Inhofe warned.

The webinar by the Clarion Project will focus on the impact of the recent deal between the U.S. and its allies and Iran. Parts of Iran's nuclear program were frozen temporarily in exchange for that nation having access to billions of dollars in assets that had been tied up by international sanctions.

Since then, Iranian officials have been explaining that the agreement affirmed their right to pursue a nuclear program.

Pry has told WND that U.S. utilities have been resisting efforts to harden the grid and local utilities against an EMP attack.

He pointed out that the SHIELD Act, introduced by Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz., would give the federal government authority to get the utilities to undertake protective measures.

However, the legislation may not be going anywhere in Congress.

"When emergency planners from the White House down to local police and fire departments find themselves tasked to plan for an EMP catastrophe in the context of an unprotected electric grid, this will bring enormous pressure to bear on the electric utilities and the NERC," Pry said.

The NERC, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, which represents the electric utility industry, is tasked with protecting bulk power transmission on the grid. However, the federal government currently lacks authority to get local utilities to protect against an EMP.

Pry also warned about the risk when state legislatures were considering whether to take action on their own.

At the time, he noted that in July, a North Korean freighter was intercepted carrying nuclear capable missiles.

"Connect the dots. The last time we failed to connect the dots, 9/11 happened and thousands of Americans died," he said.

Further, he warned that the loss of the electrical grid would be a nightmare, triggering cascading failures of all the critical infrastructures on which society depends.

A "super-EMP" nuclear bomb, Pry said, is lighter than regular nuclear weapons and is designed to emit greater amounts of gamma rays, a form of electromagnetic energy. It's the most destructive type of EMP event.

He also said even nations with "defensive" missiles could load them with nukes and deliver an EMP death blow to America.

His comments came after it was found that components of Cuban SA-2 surface-to-air missile were on a North Korean ship in the Panama Canal.

Pry said if armed with a nuclear warhead and launched from a freighter, the SA-2 is technically possible to use offensively for an EMP attack.

Sources say that if one armed SA-2 were to be launched from a freighter off the U.S. East Coast and exploded high over the highly populated region stretching from New York City to Washington, D.C., the resulting EMP could knock out the Eastern grid that services some 70 percent of the U.S. population.

Get "A Nation Forsaken" by Michael Maloof and become part of the solution rather than part of the problem.