Iran has been in a standoff with the Biden administration, with Ayatollah Khamenei demanding that the U.S. immediately lift sanctions before going to the table to negotiate the revival of the nuclear agreement, an agreement Iran did not abide by and even admitted to violating. Biden is demanding, on the other hand, that Iran first negotiate a nuclear agreement with the U.S. before consideration of lifting the sanctions.
Now Iran is flexing its muscles again: the regime has just ended snap inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors.
This news comes a week after President Hassan Rouhani stated that “Iran is ready to hold talks with the UN nuclear watchdog chief, ahead of a next week deadline set by lawmakers for the suspension of some inspections.” But Rouhani’s deal with the IAEA caused him internal troubles from his own hardline lawmakers, who are now calling for his prosecution for what they call a “clear violation” of an Iranian law from December, which stipulates that Iran must not cooperate with the IAEA. The Iranian law strips IAEA inspectors of broad authorities.
At the time of the Biden victory, Iran celebrated in anticipation that Biden would “bow” to the regime. Biden was a breath of fresh air to America’s worst enemies, and Iran continues to test for weakness in the new administration. The fact that it won’t settle for a nuclear deal which saw over a hundred billion flow into its own coffers, not to mention backroom deals between Iran and the former Biden administration, implies that Iran is swiftly moving toward its goal of a nuclear bomb, despite its repeated denials.
On Monday, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Iran might enrich uranium up to 60% purity if the country needed it, while repeating a denial of any Iranian intent to seek nuclear weapons.
Meanwhile, Khamenei has declared: “Enemies cannot do a damn thing against the Islamic Republic and Islam’s power is growing.” Iran has also been continually boasting about its military might.
“Iran stops snap nuclear inspections, state-run daily urges caution,” Reuters, February 23, 2021:
DUBAI (Reuters) – An Iranian government newspaper warned on Tuesday that overly radical actions in the nuclear wrangling with the West may lead to the country’s isolation after Tehran ended snap inspections by United Nations inspectors.
Iran’s envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Kazem Gharibabadi, said it had ended implementation of the so-called Additional Protocol at midnight (2030 GMT) on Monday. The agreement allowed the IAEA to carry out short-notice inspections.
The state-run daily newspaper Iran criticised hardline lawmakers who protested on Monday at Tehran’s decision to permit “necessary” monitoring by U.N. inspectors for up to three months, saying this broke a law passed by parliament in an apparent effort to pressure the United States to lift sanctions.
The law requires ending snap inspections by the U.N. nuclear watchdog from Tuesday if sanctions are not lifted.
“Those who say Iran must take swift tough action on the nuclear accord should say what guarantee there is that Iran will not be left alone as in the past… and will this end anywhere other than helping build a consensus against Iran?” the daily Iran said.
To create room for diplomacy, the U.N. watchdog IAEA on Sunday reached a deal with Iran to cushion the blow of Tehran’s reduced cooperation and refusal to permit short-notice inspections.
On Monday, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Iran might enrich uranium up to 60% purity if the country needed it, while repeating a denial of any Iranian intent to seek nuclear weapons.
Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with six powers, which it has been breaching since the United States withdrew in 2018, caps the fissile purity to which Tehran can refine uranium at 3.67%, well under the 20% achieved before the agreement and far below the 90% suitable for a nuclear weapon.
A U.S. State Department spokesman said Khamenei’s comments “sounds like a threat” but reiterated U.S. willingness to engage in talks with Iran about returning to the 2015 nuclear deal.
Washington said last week it was ready to talk to Iran about both nations returning to the accord abandoned by former U.S. President Donald Trump.
Tehran said last week it was studying a European Union proposal for an informal meeting between current members of the deal and the United States, but has yet to respond to it.
Iran, which has resumed enriching to 20% in an apparent bid to heap pressure on the United States, has been at loggerheads with Washington over which side should take the initial step to revive the accord….
Buraq says
A cardinal principle of negotiating strategy is not to threaten to walk away from a deal if you are not really in a position to do so.
Tehran is hastening the moment where Israel will be forced to do something to prevent the Ayatollah’s from getting a nuclear weapon. And as Israel’s survival is at stake, a military conflict is now inevitable. The die has been cast, in my opinion. When? Somewhere at the end of May beginning of June, at the latest.
b.a. freeman says
one would think that the leftists in the ruling class would understand this, but that very thought implicitly assumes that the leftist elites actually want the US to succeed. a nuclear war would not, by any definition, be success, but the scenario U outline is *EXACTLY* what any rational person should expect.
i don’t really think that the left wants the US to be successful, however; they *HATE* the US, and want very badly to see her defeated or even dismembered. if that means that iran gets the breathing room to launch a nuclear attack on the US at the cost of some 50 million to 100 million american deaths, then so be it; they do not care.
James Lincoln says
b.a. freeman says,
“i don’t really think that the left wants the US to be successful…”
The Left, at least, does not want the US to be successful in a “classical” sense – based upon the U.S. Constitution, Judeo-Christian values. etc.
They want to tear down / cancel – and transform the country into a socialist state…
gravenimage says
Too true, James.
J. R. Penny says
A nuclear bomb is VERY near!
mortimer says
Iran probably interfered in the US election as well since their preferred candidate was obvious.
The taqiyya champions of the world continue their lies.
Walter Sieruk says
This greater arrogance and gall of that mullah regime has grown, no doubt, because America now has weak old Joe Biden posing as her President.
Westman says
Truth: These political games will continue until Iran has nuclear weapons.
Shia Islam, in Iran, is unique in its propensity for both aggression and bragging. Iran has only been challenged, in this modern era, about the edges and continues, like those before it, to create its own echo-bubble of believed supremacy.
The Iranian regime is the next tyranny that will continue to expand its fingers into foreign insurrections until the threshold of world tolerance is reached. Iran requires a change of mindset, an understanding that Allah and the Mullahs cannot protect it from the consequences of overreaching into other societies. In 1939, Japan had these same ideas of God-favored supremacy that could only be rationalized by defeat.
The Iran regime has aptly demonstrated that it never lets the discomfort of the citizens affect using the nation’s resources for military adventurism and weapons development.
If history is a guide – short of a revolution – it will require an eventual absolute military defeat of Iran to stop its present course and restore it to sane leadership. The cost to the free world increases as time passes toward that inevitable clash.
gregbeetham says
There is a detail or two in this Iran nuclear situation that has mystified me for a long time, Pakistan right next door supposedly has nuclear weapons of some kind and has detonated at least two low yield bombs. The government of Pakistan is probably not as crazy as Iran’s but they have a domestic percentage of fundamentalist crazies while the religious loonies run the show in Iran.
Maybe Pakistan would think twice about helping Iran get the bomb and maybe they wouldn’t but both are friends with China and North Korea and both of those have the bomb and then there is Russia who is strapped for cash and obviously does have the bomb and could supply them quite easily.
One would think that Iran could have sourced the bomb from any of these if it wanted so why didn’t it just do that?
gravenimage says
Pakistan is majority Sunni, and would not be apt to hand the bomb over to Shia Iran.
China and North Korea are very oppressive, but probably don’t want to see Iran with the bomb.
Russia has been playing footsie with Iran for a long time–but Putin, while he has enabled Iran many times, is probably not crazy enough to just gift them the bomb.
This being said, Iran is closer to this all the time–and now they sense Western weakness.
somehistory says
We will all know when the scum of iran reach their goal of having a weapon capable of causing an EMP over the U.S….just a minute after the lights go out and our phones don’t work…
They “threaten” to end the “snap” inspections if they don’t get their way, and now they have said these have been ended…so what do they have left to use as a threat if they don’t get their way immediately?
They hid much of their work to develop the weapon of their choice…and will continue to do that, even if they get the sanctions lifted, the ‘o’ “deal” reinstated, and trillions of dollars headed their way. And continue to deny what they are doing.
They don’t deny the “why” of it all, however. The “why” is to wipe Israel off the map, destroy the U.S. and become the sole world power, spreading islam to the four corners, with them dictating who hangs, who is raped and who gets to walk about freely.
gravenimage says
Iran abruptly ends snap inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency
……………….
What a surprise… sarc/off
Really, Iran is more emboldened all the time with Biden in the White House.