iran panorama

  By Dr. Majid Rafizadeh The latest developments indicate that the Iranian regime is heading toward becoming a nuclear state, which will have significant repercussions for regional and global peace and security. The regime is pressing ahead with uranium enrichment and is infringing all the terms of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action nuclear deal. The regime is reportedly only one month away from having enough material to fuel a single nuclear weapon, while Iranian leaders are showing no interest in returning to the negotiating table to revive the nuclear pact. As the International Atomic Energy Agency reported this month: “Since 23 February 2021, the agency’s verification and monitoring activities have been seriously undermined as a result of Iran’s decision to stop the implementation of its nuclear-related commitments.” The dangers of a nuclear-armed Iran must not be underestimated for several reasons. First of all, Iran is not a rational state; rather it is a revolutionary on...

  If there were any lingering doubts that the Iranian regime is accelerating its nuclear program despite Western engagement, they should be set aside after two recent reports by the UN nuclear watchdog. Western parties, especially the European Union, should rethink their feckless policy and negotiations vis-à-vis the theocratic regime. The policy of appeasement has failed. On Tuesday, the International Atomic Energy Agency ( IAEA ) released two reports that revealed the regime’s illicit nuclear activities and obstruction of monitoring activities by the agency. The IAEA also warned that the regime has 10 kilograms of uranium enriched at near-weapons grade level. In addition, Tehran has stockpiled more than 80 kilograms of 20 percent enriched uranium. Under the terms of the 2015 nuclear deal, the regime is not allowed to enrich uranium above 3.5 percent. Therefore, Tehran is in clear violation of the nuclear accord. The IAEA warned that its verification and monitoring activities have...

 Author: Farid Mahoutchi As world powers try to find a solution to Iran’s nuclear impasse, Tehran continues to show lack that it has no interest in resolving its controversial program. On Tuesday, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), presented two reports that confirm Iran’s regime refusal to provide satisfactory answers to a probe into its past nuclear activities. The UN’s nuclear watchdog agency also said Tehran is obstructing the important monitoring work of international inspectors. The IAEA further warned that the regime now has 10 kilograms of uranium enriched at 60 percent, which is near-weapons grade. The regime is also stockpiling more than 80 kilograms of 20 percent enriched uranium. Under the terms of the 2015 nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Iran’s regime is not allowed to enrich uranium above 3.5 percent. The IAEA also warned that its verification and monitoring activities have been “seriously undermined” since Febru...

  By: Alejo Vidal Quadras At the latest talks in Vienna, the European signatories of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action presented Iran with a “roadmap” of the sanctions that the US plans to suspend if Iran comes back into compliance with the nuclear deal. The proposal was furnished by the US through its European partners. The advent of  60 percent enrichment  came almost immediately after an explosion at the Natanz facility exposed the regime’s vulnerability. But that same Iranian escalation effectively confirmed that those concerns were well-grounded in the first place, since there is no practical reason for Iran to expend the money and effort involved in enriching to that level, unless the ultimate goal is nuclear weapons capability. In that sense, 60 percent enrichment is nothing if not a confession to the lies that underlay Iran’s position in the negotiations that resulted in the JCPOA. Unfortunately, many of the Western participants in those negotiations were all...

By Dr. Majid Rafizadeh The philosopher George Santayana famously wrote: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” And now that the Biden administration has declared it is prepared to lift sanctions on the Islamic Republic in order to revive the Iran nuclear deal, aka the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), history appears to be repeating itself. The repercussions and negative consequences will probably be the same as they were after the agreement was first struck. In 2015, the Iranian regime received an extremely favorable deal from the P5+1 (the UK, France, China, Russia and the US, plus Germany). All four rounds of UN sanctions on the theocratic establishment, which took decades and a significant amount of political capital to put in place, were lifted on day one of the nuclear deal. This move by the Obama administration, which led the negotiations, was a result of failed diplomacy and was politically and strategically dangerous. This is partially becau...

 Written by Shahriar Kia After systematically violating provisions of the Iran nuclear deal in 2019 then completely halting compliance with it at the beginning of 2020, the Iranian regime continued escalatory  nuclear  activity last week with the announcement that it would be enriching uranium to  60 percent  fissile purity. This is far beyond the 20 percent enrichment that has already been established, and many orders of magnitude greater than the 3.65 percent that was permitted under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. The latest provocation serves no practical purpose other than to threaten the international community with a dramatically shorter nuclear breakout time, and it demands a firm response from Western powers. Of course, a firm response was already warranted by the prior violations, especially considering that they helped to expose Iran’s underlying lack of seriousness regarding implementation and enforcement of the JCPOA. Many of that deal’s cri...

  By Dr. Majid Rafizadeh It has long been evident that the Iranian regime is desperate for the revival of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear deal. This is due to the regime’s financial hardship and the significant pressure it is facing inside the country.  After the former Trump administration began imposing pressure on the Iranian regime following its withdrawal from the JCPOA in 2018, the mullahs faced two major uprisings at home. Iran’s regime is now bankrupt both politically and economically and with a sham presidential election — in which candidates are vetted and approved by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s Guardian Council — scheduled for June 18.  In addition, the regime has been finding it extremely difficult to maintain funding for its militias and forces both inside and outside Iran. That is why, for the first time in more than three decades, Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, an Iranian proxy designated as a terrorist organization by t...

 Written by Mohammad Sadat Khansari The Iranian regime has started enriching uranium at 60 percent fissile purity, in line with the mullahs’ nuclear extortion campaign. The mullahs’ Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi had previously announced that “another 1,000 centrifuges with 50% more capacity will be added to the existing machines in Natanz, in addition to replacing the damaged machines.” The reference to damaged machines was an acknowledgment of the fact that security had been breached at the fortified Natanz nuclear site earlier this week. The sabotage at that site was a clear sign of the Iranian regime’s vulnerability, which has no doubt made Tehran all the more desperate to display an image of strength. The international community, mainly the European Union, needs to be careful about how they respond to the regime’s provocations, starting with the threat of  escalatory  enrichment at Natanz and other sites. Such threats should certainly be taken seriously, but t...