Iranian Cleric Calls For Nuclear Arms
https://www.iranintl.com/en/202403243726
Mohammad Faker Meybodi, a faculty member at the Center for Islamic Sciences, has sparked controversy with his recent remarks advocating for the possession of nuclear arms.
Speaking on the historical context of military weaponry as outlined in the Quran, Meybodi emphasized the need for contemporary armaments to deter adversaries effectively.
“At the time when the verse related to military weapons was revealed in the Quran, the weapon of that era was the swords and spears… Today, it may be necessary for us to possess nuclear weapons to intimidate the enemy. We must equip ourselves with modern weapons,” Meybodi stated.
His statements contrast with the stance previously expressed by Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, who feigned to denounce the acquisition and use of nuclear weapons, citing religious prohibitions. Khamenei’s fatwa against nuclear arms dates back to the mid-1990s and has been reiterated on numerous occasions, emphasizing Iran’s commitment to “peaceful nuclear endeavors.”
Despite Iran’s assertions that its program is for civilian purposes, UN inspectors last year claimed Iran has accelerated its nuclear enrichment program.
In December, the UN’s atomic weapons watchdog agency, the IAEA, sounded alarm bells regarding Iran’s illicit enrichment of uranium. Tehran was reported to have reversed a months-long slowdown in the rate of uranium enrichment, reaching levels of up to 60-percent purity, approaching the approximately 90-percent threshold for weapons-grade uranium.
The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), an agreement reached in 2015, aimed to address these concerns by limiting Iran’s nuclear capabilities in exchange for sanctions relief. However, the withdrawal of the United States from the JCPOA in 2018 reignited tensions and cast uncertainty over the agreement’s future.
Wargame simulated a conflict between Israel and Iran: It quickly went nuclear
The Bulletin By Henry Sokolski | February 27, 2024
With the Gaza crisis, a nuclear Rubicon of sorts has been crossed: Elected Israeli officials—a deputy minister and a ruling party member of Parliament—not only publicly referenced Israeli possession of nuclear weapons, but suggested how such weapons might be used to target Gaza. This is unprecedented.[1]
More recently, Iran directly attacked an Israeli-manned intelligence outpost in Iraq. Iran also has inched within weeks of making several nuclear weapons and has made its military ever more immune to first strikes against its key missile and nuclear facilities. Iran and its proxies also now have long-range, high-precision missiles that could easily reach key Israeli targets.[2]
None of these developments is positive. For decades, most security analysts assumed Israel’s undeclared nuclear weapons were only deployed to deter attacks and that Iran would not dare to attack Israel directly. This after-action report describes a war game originally designed nearly two years ago. It directly challenges these assumptions and suggests that military strikes between Israel and Iran—including nuclear ones—are possible.
The Nonproliferation Policy Education Center held the game and its preparatory meetings—five separate sessions—in November and December of 2023. The 35 participants included Republican and Democratic Hill staff; US Executive Branch officials and analysts; leading academic scholars; national security and Middle Eastern think tank experts; and US military personnel.
The game consisted of three moves. After receiving a war brief and instructions from the Israeli prime minister, teams representing the Israeli Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and intelligence community formulated their preferred options for launching nuclear strikes against Iran. The prime minister selected one. Move two begins after the Israeli military carries out this strike. In move two, the teams were reconstituted to represent Israel, friendly Arab nations, and the United States and its European allies. Control played Iran, Russia, and China. Each team responded diplomatically and militarily to Israel’s initial nuclear strike against Iran. The game’s third and final move was a “hot wash” where participants discussed their insights……………………………………………………………………………………………………
Many critical questions remain unanswered. Would Israel or Iran conduct further nuclear strikes? Would Israel target Tehran with nuclear weapons? And vice versa, would Iran target Tel Aviv with nuclear arms? Would Russia or the United States be drawn into the war? These many basic unknowns helped inform each of the game’s four major takeaways:
The strategic uncertainties generated after an Israeli-Iranian nuclear exchange are likely to be at least as fraught as any that might arise before such a clash. An unspoken hope among security experts is that nuclear deterrence can work between Israel and Iran. Such optimism, however, discourages clear thinking about what might happen if deterrence fails and both countries use nuclear weapons……………………………………………………………………………………………
Although Israel and Iran might initially seek to avoid the nuclear targeting of population, such self-restraint is tenuous. …………………………………………………………………………………………
Multilateral support for Israeli security may be essential to deter Israeli nuclear use but will likely hinge on Israeli willingness to discuss regional denuclearization.An isolated and desperate Israel is far more likely to use nuclear weapons than an Israel surrounded by friendly, supportive neighbors………………………………………………………………………..
Little progress is likely in reducing Middle Eastern nuclear threats as long as the United States continues its public policy of denying knowledge of Israeli nuclear weapons. The current US policy is of not admitting that Israel possesses nuclear weapons……………………………………………….
…………………….Considering the strategic risks and uncertainties that a possible nuclear exchange between Israel and Iran revealed in this game, the formulation of proportionate military, political, and economic policies to deter nuclear use appears crucial. This requires gaming and careful planning—both efforts that the United States’ outdated policy toward Israel nuclear-related classification all but precludes.
Notes: …………………………………………….. https://thebulletin.org/2024/02/wargame-simulated-a-conflict-between-israel-and-iran-it-quickly-went-nuclear/
Iran Reduces Near-Weapons-Grade Stockpile, Defying Expectations
Move could signal an effort to de-escalate nuclear tensions with Washington
By Laurence Norman, Feb. 26, 2024
VIENNA—Iran reduced its stockpile of near-weapons-grade nuclear material even as it continued expanding its overall nuclear program, the United Nations’ atomic watchdog said Monday, marking a surprise step that could ease tensions with Washington.
The move comes at a moment when Iran and the U.S. have sought to avoid direct confrontation in the regional conflict that grew out of Hamas’s terrorist attack on Israel on Oct. 7 and Israel’s aggressive response………… (Subscribers only) more https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/iran-reduces-near-weapons-grade-stockpile-defying-expectations-ba384777
Iran Plans More Nuclear Reactors Despite Serious Hurdles
Sunday, 02/04/2024, Umud Shokri, Iran International
Iran’s recently stated plan to build four more nuclear power reactors has raised questions about its feasibility as the country wrestles with economic crisis and isolation.
According to early estimates, work has started in the southern region with a five-thousand-megawatt total capacity in mind. With 4,000 employment prospects and an estimated $20 billion cost, the planned nine-year schedule raises questions under current economic circumstances.
The difficulties Iran has faced in building new power plants in the last ten years raise doubts about whether the 25,000 megawatts of new electricity that the previous national development plan sought to bring about can be achieved.
The Iranian government pledged to raise the percentage of renewable and clean energy power plants to a minimum of five percent in line with the sixth development plan (2017–2021). However, the share of nuclear power is currently one percent, which means that the program’s goals have been significantly missed………..
The only nuclear power plant in the country is a 1,000 megawatt facility that started up in 2011 with help from Russia. A 300 megawatt plant is reportedly under construction in Khuzestan.
Building times for nuclear power plants vary greatly due to factors like supply chain maturity, design revisions, and project management efficiency, but Iran faces a severe electricity shortage now. Consumption peaked at over 72,000 megawatts in 2023, surpassing the actual production capacity of power plants, capped at 60,000 megawatts during the warm season.
Iran is facing several obstacles in its efforts to build further nuclear power reactors, including financial and technological constraints, geopolitical and political instability, and international sanctions. The interplay of political and economic dynamics, together with worries about public opinion, safety, and international compliance, complicate Iran’s nuclear energy development scenario. Moreover, Mohammad Eslami, the head of Iran’s nuclear energy said last week that Tehran is planning to build the new reactors relying on domestic financing and knowhow……………………………………………………………….
Examining Iran’s foreign policy, one can see that the country is committed to scientific progress even in the face of external challenges, as seen by its tenacity in pursuing its nuclear program despite sanctions. Careful navigation is necessary to resolve the delicate dance between energy demands, geopolitical concerns, and the difficulties presented by international sanctions. Iran’s prospects for the energy sector both at home and abroad will depend on how well it can surmount these challenges https://www.iranintl.com/en/202402034292
New Revelations Shed More Light On Sabotage Of Iran Nuclear Program
Tuesday, 01/09/2024, Iran International Newsroom, https://www.iranintl.com/en/202401095698
The malware that disrupted Iran’s nuclear program in 2010 was delivered by a Dutch engineer working at the enrichment plant in Natanz, a Dutch daily has claimed.
For more than a decade, no one knew how the virus Stuxnet –widely believed to be an American-Israeli creation– had found its way to the control systems of Iran’s most sensitive and tightly watched nuclear facility in Natanz.
In 2019, two investigative journalists, one Dutch and one American, published a report in Yahoo News, suggesting that the virus had been released by “a mechanic working for a front company doing work at Natanz”, who in reality worked for AIVD, the Dutch intelligence agency.
At the time, the authors believed the mole to be Iranian. But the investigative report in the Dutch daily Volkskrant has named him as Erik van Sabben.
According to the report, van Sabben was married to an Iranian woman and worked in Dubai for a company that serviced Iran’s oil and gas industry. So he could have been the perfect recruit. And he was indeed recruited by AIVD in 2005 at the request of US and Israeli secret services.
The US and Israel have never acknowledged involvement in the cyber attack on Iran’s nuclear program, but most experts share the view that such a sophisticated cyberweapon could have been developed by Israel and the United States only as part of a joint sabotage campaign known as Operation Olympic Games, which is still unacknowledged.
The new report comes at a time when Iran has once more accelerated its enrichment program, turning its back on a secret deal many diplomats say the regime had made with the Biden administration in 2023 to cap the enrichment at 60-percent purity in exchange for the release of billion of dollars of its money in Iraq and South Korea.
Iran is reported to have enough highly enriched uranium to make three nuclear bombs, if enriched further during a few weeks. The UN nuclear watchdog (IAEA) has repeatedly raised concern about Iran’s enrichment levels –which experts say has no civilian justification.
In its latest report (December 2023), the IAEA stated that Iran is enriching to up to 60%, close to the roughly 90% that is required to make a nuclear weapon. One place this is being done is the Pilot Fuel Enrichment Plant (PFEP) at Natanz complex –the very same facility Stuxnet targeted almost 15 years ago.
Stuxnet is believed to have had affected the control systems at Natanz enrichment facilities, forcing a change of speed in the centrifuges’ rotor and causing breakdown.
The extent of the damage it caused is not known with certainty. It seems to have been significant enough, though, to force the nuclear authorities in Iran to halt uranium enrichment several times.
In November 2010, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, then-president of Iran, confirmed for the first time that a cyberweapon had hit the country’s nuclear facilities. “They succeeded in creating problems for a limited number of our centrifuges with the software they had installed in electronic parts,” he said.
Fingers were pointed at “the Americans” and “the Israelis”, especially after two Iranian nuclear scientists were assassinated. But no reasonable explanation was given as to how the malware had entered the facilities.
More than a decade later, Volkskrant has offered an explanation –but little consolation for those who, according to the new report, spent around “one billion dollars” on a malware that they hoped would set back Iran’s nuclear program, although the operation undoubtedly slowed down Iran’s efforts for a while.
Dutch engineer spread Stuxnet in Iran nuclear plant in 2008: report
IT Wire, By Sam Varghese, 9 Jan 24
A Dutchman was responsible for infecting equipment at Iran’s Natanz nuclear plant in 2008 with the Stuxnet virus, leading to years of delay in the country’s nuclear program, a Dutch publication, Volkskrant, claims.
Erik van Sabben, who was 36 at the time, is claimed to have carried out the task after having been recruited in 2005 by the AIVD, a Dutch intelligence outfit.
A few years ago, Volksrant claimed Van Sabben had been recruited by AIVD and also another Dutch intelligence outfit, MIVD.
Stuxnet was discovered by researcher Sergey Ulasen in 2010; he joined Russian security firm Kaspersky a year later. At that time, the virus was believed to have been infiltrated into the Natanz plant through an USB drive as the lab was not connected to any external network………………………………..
Another new claim by Volksrant was that Stuxnet, which is believed to have been developed jointly by the NSA and Israel’s Unit 8200, cost more than US$1 billion to create.
Reacting to the story, Costin Raiu, long-time head of Kaspersky’s Global Research & Analysis Team who left the company last year, said: “Some interesting points from the article: Stuxnet cost more than US$1 billion to build (!).
“If true, it was brought into Natanz in a ‘water pump’, that later spread it to the network.
“The guy who did this died in 2009, so very important detail, the Stuxnet variant he brought in 2007 would be a really early one, like Stuxnet 0.5.
“IMHO, the really impactful variants were the later ones, that were seeded through five different organisations in Iran, in 2009 and 2010.”
Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer at security firm WithSecure, said he did not buy the claim of the US$1 billion price tag. “Millions, certainly, dozens of millions, sure. A billion? I don’t think so,” he said. https://itwire.com/business-it-news/security/dutch-engineer-spread-stuxnet-in-iran-nuclear-plant-report.html
US eyes reports Iran has accelerated uranium enrichment
Aljazeera, 27 Dec 23
Tension has risen between Washington and Tehran amid the Israel-Gaza war.
The United States has expressed deep concern over reports that Iran has accelerated its production of weapons-grade uranium.
The comments from a White House National Security Council spokesperson came late on Tuesday in response to a report issued by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that warned that Tehran has accelerated production of the high-grade material……………………………
The United Nations atomic watchdog’s report to member states said that Iran has increased the rate at which it is producing near weapons-grade uranium in recent weeks, reversing a previous slowdown that started in in mid-2023.
Iran had previously slowed the rate at which it was enriching uranium – the process of raising the level of uranium-235, the isotope used in nuclear fission – to 60 percent purity. Uranium enriched at 60 percent is just a step away from weapons-grade levels of 90 percent. Nuclear power stations require 3.67 percent.
The IAEA said its inspectors had verified the increased rate of production since the end of November at facilities in Natanz and Fordow to about 9kg (20lb) per month, the same level of production that Iran was maintaining in the first half of 2023 before a drop to 3kg (6.6lb) per month in June.
Raised tension
Iran appeared to have slowed its enrichment programme earlier this year as a gesture as informal talks with the US over a nuclear treaty resumed. But the Israel-Gaza war has raised tensions between Washington and Tehran………………………………….more https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/12/27/us-frets-over-irans-accelerated-uranium-enrichment-programme—
Iran undoes slowdown in enrichment of uranium to near weapons-grade -IAEA
Russia has completed its delivery of nuclear weapons to Belarus, according
to its president, Alexander Lukashenko. Lukashenko was in St. Petersburg,
Russia, for the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council on Monday when he told
reporters that the last delivery of tactical nuclear weapons from the
Kremlin occurred in early October.
UPI 26th Dec 2023
Is Biden taking the Iran nuclear deal off life support?
If the JCPOA really is dead, as a top State Department appointee declared last week, that’s an own goal for the US and a huge risk for regional security
ELDAR MAMEDOV, DEC 12, 2023, Responsible Statecraft
When Joe Biden was running for U.S. president, he promised to reverse many of his predecessor’s decisions on foreign policy, generally hewing towards more restraint and diplomacy, and less bluster, militarism, and unilateralism. That included restoring the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) from which Donald Trump withdrew in 2018 — despite evidence, shared even by his own officials, that the deal was delivering on its core objective to block Iran’s pathways to a nuclear weapon. On December 7, 2023, Biden’s nominee for deputy secretary of state, the current National Security Council Coordinator for Indo-Pacific Affairs, Kurt Campbell, effectively declared the JCPOA dead………………………………..
Although the prospects for a revived JCPOA have been dim since at least 2022 — for which Iran carries a fair share of blame — officials from the Biden administration until now have largely refrained from using such threatening language against Iran. Conclusively abandoning any effort to revive the JCPOA does not serve U.S. interests and is in fact counterproductive.
Addressing students at Tehran University a few days after Campbell’s Senate testimony, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian downplayed the relevance of the JCPOA by reportedly saying that the “more we move forward, the more JCPOA becomes pointless. We will not force ourselves to remain in the narrow tunnel of the JCPOA forever.”
So, the Biden administration finds itself in the rather awkward position of effectively agreeing with Tehran, but this was a self-inflicted problem: by refusing, for three years now, to engage with its critics and the broader public on the agreement’s benefits to the U.S. and global security, it has allowed the notion that the JCPOA was some kind of reward for Iran, rather than a deal that strictly curbed Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, to become conventional wisdom. As is evident in Abdollahian’s remarks, Iranians today certainly do see the JCPOA as a “narrow tunnel” that limits their options………………………………………….
If ever there was a mechanism that would prove effective in preventing Iran from acquiring a bomb, it was the JCPOA. In light of Abdollahian’s remarks (which clearly reflect a growing skepticism about the JCPOA in Iran), the Biden administration, by publicly disowning the deal, is in fact removing obstacles to further Iranian nuclear escalation.
Unless Biden is prepared to accept the advice of the late international relations scholar Kenneth Waltz, who, in an influential 2012 Foreign Affairs article, argued that an Iranian bomb would stabilize the Middle East, it is not clear what his administration would do in place of a revived JCPOA to check additional Iranian nuclear advances.
Campbell emphasized the “current environment” as an additional factor rendering a JCPOA revival infeasible. In fact, if he was referring to the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, then it is precisely such a conflict that makes some sort of a direct dialogue between Washington and Tehran — on nuclear, but also regional security issues — all the more urgent if a wider war is to be avoided. Substituting such a dialogue with military threats at a moment when the U.S. is providing Israel virtually unconditional support, including the lavish replenishment of its arms stocks, the deployment of marines and two aircraft carrier task forces to the region, and the veto of a U.N. Security Council Resolution calling for a ceasefire, could do more to incentivize Iranians to seek a nuclear deterrent than anything else.
Vows to isolate Iran “internationally and diplomatically” are also unwarranted as Iran, despite its rhetorical support for Hamas, has so far demonstrated considerable restraint. While hardline ideological hostility to Israel is wired into the Islamic Republic’s identity, the actual position Tehran adopted towards the Israel-Palestine conflict is much more nuanced, more in line with the Arab and Islamic (and indeed broad international) mainstream consensus that insists on a viable two-state solution. Instead of building on these shifts, however modest and tentative, Washington seems to prefer to double down on confrontation.
The sad irony is that this explosive situation could have been avoided had Joe Biden had the courage and wisdom to deliver on his own election campaign promise to restore the nuclear agreement with Iran. ………. https://responsiblestatecraft.org/biden-iran-nuclear-deal/
Iran Dismisses Fears Over Its Nuclear Program
Iran has dismissed global concern over its “peaceful nuclear program, claiming it poses “no threat” and does not require a new treaty deal.
Iran International 12 Dec23
Foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani spoke of Iran’s “commitment to peaceful endeavors within international frameworks” in response to rising international concern over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear activities.
He told a press briefing in Tehran: “This has been recognized and confirmed in fifteen reports by the IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency], highlighting Iran’s missile activities as part of its deterrent capabilities. Our activities in this regard are transparent and pose no threat to anyone.”
Kanaani rejected suggestions that the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear treaty should be revived, saying: “Iran no longer considers the JCPOA necessary.”
Addressing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “robust disapproval” over Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi’s recent unannounced visit to Moscow, Kanaani said: “We do not pay attention to the statements of specific parties in bilateral relations between Iran and friendly countries. Such statements will not affect our efforts to deepen relations with partners in various fields.”………………………. https://www.iranintl.com/en/202312114383
Iran warning: Israel provoking ‘inevitable expansion’ of war after IDF conducts flag-raising ceremony in Gaza
Tyler Durden, ZeroHedge, Fri, 10 Nov 2023
On Friday Israeli media produced this headline hailing that “Israeli flags wave proudly along the shores of Gaza”. Starting on Thursday footage began widely circulating online showing IDF troops holding an Israeli flag raising ceremony, laying stake to conquered areas of the Strip. In a short speech during the ceremony on a Gaza beach, just prior to leading troops in the national anthem, an IDF soldier said “this is our land” and told his forces they are leading the way for Jews “to return to our lands.”
Israeli military official says Gaza is theirs:
“We returned, we were expelled from here almost 20 years ago. We started this battle divided & ended it united. We are fighting for the Land of Israel. this is our land! And that is the victory, to return to our lands” pic.twitter.com/IG3nB3zFAW— Younis Tirawi | يونس (@ytirawi) November 9, 2023Following this highly provocative scene, on Friday Iran issued a new warning, saying that Israel’s expansion of its operations and attacks on Gaza hospitals and other provocative acts make an expansion of the scope of the war “inevitable”.
Iranian foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian conveyed the statement in a phone call with Qatar’s prime minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, according to state media.
“Due to the expansion of the intensity of the war against Gaza’s civilian residents, expansion of the scope of the war has become inevitable,” Amirabdollahian said. He separately posted to X that “time is running out” for Israel, and stated, “The only benefit of Netanyahu was that he made the foundations of the fake Israeli regime more shaky and showed the criminal, violent, and aggressive face of the Zionist regime in the massacre of women and children in Gaza.”
* * *
After reports emerged starting Wednesday and Thursday that Israeli tanks had pushed to the center of Gaza City, Palestinian officials have said tanks have drawn close to and have surrounded key hospitals where thousands of Palestinians are taking shelter as wounded patients are receiving treatment. They said Friday that air strikes have hit the Strip’s biggest hospital, Al Shifa, killing at least one and wounding several others.
Other hospitals were were also reportedly struck at dawn, including strikes on the grounds of the Indonesian Hospital and the Rantissi cancer hospital, according to eyewitnesses cited in Reuters. Sprawling tent encampments of the internally displaced can be seen on the hospital campuses, but Israel claims that Hamas has ‘terror tunnels’ underneath, and further that the group has a base of operations in Rantissi hospital. Civilians waiving white flags have been trapped, in at least one instance coming under fire while trying to escape. Gazan authorities say the Israel’s military is firing on them, while Israel claims Hamas is shooting its own people to keep them as “human shields”.
………………………………………………………………………………..”People have sent appeals from inside al-Rantisi Hospital and Nasser Hospital, asking to be allowed to flee,” Al Jazeera writes.
And yet the situation is growing more dangerous for civilians as the bombs fall. Gaza health ministry has alleged that Israeli jets struck al-Shifa Hospital buildings five times since Thursday night. This sent some of the civilians leaving for more potentially safe areas.
“They shelled the maternity department and the outpatient clinics building. One Palestinian was killed and several were wounded in the early morning attack,” the health ministry said
……………………………………….. Meanwhile the UN and aid organizations have had new issues getting trucks into the Strip and to the necessary locations amid “hell on Earth” – as the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) described.
…………………………. “We cannot drive to the north at the current point, which is of course deeply frustrating because we know there are several hundred thousand people who remain in the north,” said OCHA spokesperson Jens Laerke.
“If there is a hell on Earth today, its name is northern Gaza,” he said. “It is a life of fear by day and darkness at night and what do you tell your children in such a situation, it’s almost unimaginable – that the fire they see in the sky is out to kill them?”
There have been reports that top US and Israeli officials are in Doha seeking potential hostage deals via Qatar government mediation. But Israeli President Isaac Herzog has said “there is no real proposal” currently on the table, NBC News reports. https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/israeli-tanks-have-gaza-hospitals-surrounded-un-decries-hell-earth #Israel #Palestine
UN nuclear agency slams Iran for barring inspectors from monitoring program
The UN nuclear watchdog has criticised Iran for effectively barring several of its most experienced inspectors from monitoring the country’s program.
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi on Saturday condemned Iran’s “disproportionate and unprecedented” move to bar multiple inspectors assigned to the country, hindering its oversight of Tehran’s atomic activities.
Iran’s move is a response to a call led by the United States, Britain, France and Germany at the IAEA’s Board of Governors this week for Tehran to cooperate immediately with the agency on issues including explaining uranium traces found at undeclared sites.
Grossi made clear, however, that he believed Iran had overreacted.
“I strongly condemn this disproportionate and unprecedented unilateral measure which affects the normal planning and conduct of agency verification activities in Iran and openly contradicts the cooperation that should exist between the agency and Iran,” he said in a statement.
The strongly worded statement came amid longstanding tensions between Iran and the agency, which is tasked with monitoring a nuclear program that Western nations have long suspected is aimed at eventually developing a nuclear weapon. Iran insists the program is peaceful.
Iran’s move, known as “de-designation” of inspectors, is allowed; member states can generally veto inspectors assigned to visit their nuclear facilities under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and each country’s safeguards agreement with the agency governing inspections.
But the IAEA said Tehran’s decision went beyond normal practice. It said Iran had told it that it would bar “several” inspectors, without giving a number.
“These inspectors are among the most experienced agency experts with unique knowledge in enrichment technology,” the agency said. “With today’s decision, Iran has effectively removed about one third of the core group of the agency’s most experienced inspectors designated for Iran.”
Iran’s foreign ministry linked the move to what it said was an attempt by the US and three European countries to misuse the body “for their own political purposes”. He appeared to be referring to Britain, France and Germany, which said on Thursday they would maintain sanctions on Iran related to its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
“Of course, Iran will continue its positive cooperation within the framework of the agreements that have been made, and emphasise the necessity of the agency’s neutrality,” he added.
A Vienna-based diplomat said Iran had de-designated all the French and German members of the IAEA inspection team. There were already no US or British members.
The Vienna-based IAEA reported earlier this month that Iran had slowed the pace at which it is enriching uranium to nearly weapons-grade levels. That was seen as a sign that Tehran was trying to ease tensions after years of strain between it and the US.
Iran and the US are negotiating a prisoner swap and the release of billions of dollars in Iranian assets frozen in South Korea.
Then-President Donald Trump unilaterally pulled the US out of the accord in 2018, restoring crippling sanctions. Iran began breaking the terms a year later. Formal talks in Vienna to try to restart the deal collapsed in August 2022.
Iran says ready to settle remaining dispute with IAEA over nuclear program
IXinhua https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202307/27/WS64c15113a31035260b818ab4.html 2023-07-27
TEHRAN – Iran’s nuclear chief said on Wednesday the country is determined to close a remaining case of outstanding differences with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) regarding its nuclear program, according to the Iranian Students’ News Agency.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a cabinet meeting in the Iranian capital Tehran on Wednesday, President of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Mohammad Eslami said the country has sent a “comprehensive and written” response to the IAEA regarding the two remaining “undeclared sites,” in which the agency claims to have found “traces of uranium.”
If the agency does not accept the response and has any uncertainty or doubt regarding the issue, Iran will provide further explanation and review the documents, he added.
The AEOI chief said his organization is enriching uranium according to the level stipulated in a 2020 law passed by the Iranian parliament to counter the U.S. sanctions.
He added Iran’s “relations with the agency are based on the agreement reached with IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi during his visit to Tehran in March as well as the safeguards agreements and the Non-Proliferation Treaty and we are implementing what we have agreed to do.”
He noted that Iran and the IAEA are in “constant and sustainable” interactions with each other.
Faced with international sanctions, the country signed a nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), with world powers in July 2015, agreeing to put some curbs on its nuclear program in return for the removal of the sanctions on the country. The United States, however, pulled out of the deal in May 2018 and reimposed its unilateral sanctions on Iran, prompting the latter to drop some of its nuclear commitments according to the law passed by its parliament in December 2020.
The Iranian parliament’s law mandated the government to restrict inspections of Iran’s nuclear facilities by the IAEA and accelerate the development of the country’s nuclear program beyond the limits set under the JCPOA.
The talks on the JCPOA’s revival began in April 2021 in Vienna. No breakthrough has been achieved after the latest round of talks in August 2022.
Iranian Supreme Leader Says ‘Nothing Wrong’ With A Nuclear Deal With West
https://www.rferl.org/a/iran-khamenei-nuclear-deal-approval/32454257.html 12 June 23
Iran’s supreme leader said on June 11 that a deal with the West over Tehran’s nuclear work was possible if the country’s atomic infrastructure remained intact, amid a stalemate between Tehran and Washington to revive a 2015 nuclear pact.
Months of indirect talks between Tehran and Washington to salvage the nuclear accord with six major powers have stalled since September, with each side accusing the other of making unreasonable demands. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s guarded approval comes days after both Tehran and Washington denied a report that they were nearing an interim deal. To read the original story by Reuters, click here.
Oman facilitating Iran-US talks to replace 2015 nuclear accord
MUSCAT DAILY, 12 JUN 2023
Tehran, Iran – Iran on Monday said it has continued indirect negotiations with the Unites States through the Sultanate of Oman over its nuclear deal and a possible prisoner swap.
Iran’s nuclear programme has long been the subject of scrutiny from Western powers, resulting in sanctions that have crippled the country’s economy.
A 2015 deal granted Tehran much-needed relief from sanctions in exchange for curbs on its nuclear programme before it was torpedoed by the United States’ unilateral pullout in 2018.
In recent days, the two capitals have denied media reports that they were close to reaching an interim deal to replace the 2015 accord.
“We welcome the efforts of Omani officials and we exchanged messages with the other party through this mediator” over the lifting of US sanctions, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said on Monday.
“We have never stopped the diplomatic processes,” he added during his weekly press conference, emphasising that the talks “were not secret”.
Diplomatic ties between Tehran and Washington soured following the 1979 revolution led by Iran’s first supreme leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
Efforts to revive the 2015 nuclear deal have so far failed to yield results.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Sunday reiterated the denial of moves towards acquiring a nuclear weapon. He also said deals could be reached, provided they do not change “the existing infrastructure of the nuclear industry”……………………………………………..more https://www.muscatdaily.com/2023/06/12/oman-facilitating-iran-us-talks-to-replace-2015-nuclear-accord/
1 This Month
of the week – Shut Down Drone Warfare!
Tell the Ukrainian Government to Drop Prosecution of Peace Activist Yurii Sheliazhenko
Petition to revoke the licensing of the Near Surface Nuclear Disposal Facility (NSDF) at Chalk River. https://www.ourcommons.ca/petitions/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-7247
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
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