{"id":237109,"date":"2021-04-01T09:56:18","date_gmt":"2021-04-01T14:56:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/?p=237109"},"modified":"2023-02-01T05:00:32","modified_gmt":"2023-02-01T04:00:32","slug":"in-light-of-past-deceptions-the-west-must-never-consider-irans-nuclear-ultimatum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/news\/nuclear\/in-light-of-past-deceptions-the-west-must-never-consider-irans-nuclear-ultimatum\/","title":{"rendered":"In Light of Past Deceptions, the West Must Never Consider Iran\u2019s Nuclear Ultimatum"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"iran-missile-parade\"<\/p>\n

Up to this point, the official policy of the European Union has apparently been to let Iran get away with just about anything, on the expectation that permissiveness might one day make the clerical regime earnestly cooperative. But this expectation proved to be groundless when Tehran reacted aggressively to the news that the US administration would not immediately knuckle under to Iranian ultimatums upon inheriting the previous administration\u2019s strategy of \u201cmaximum pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, an unnamed Iranian official elaborated upon that position in remarks to the regime\u2019s English language propaganda outlet. \u201cA senior Iranian official tells Press TV that Tehran will stop its 20-percent uranium enrichment only if the U.S. lifts ALL its sanctions on Iran first,\u201d the network\u2019s website reported.<\/p>\n

This was already implied by previous statements from various officials including the regime\u2019s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. But the Press TV report clarifies that Tehran isn\u2019t even open to the idea of scaling back its uranium enrichment to a slightly lower level, even if it is still above the 3.67 percent fissile purity that is permitted under the terms of the JCPOA. Thus, the regime has explicitly cut off every path forward for the West other than either abandoning the nuclear deal to start from scratch or giving the regime everything it wants at once, with no guarantee of reciprocation.<\/p>\n

As a matter of fact, Tehran\u2019s commitment to 20 percent enrichment underscores the fact that the prospect of such reciprocation is extremely remote. Even some consistent advocates for the JCPOA were taken aback by the speed with which Iranian nuclear facilities returned to the levels of activity they had achieved before negotiations for the JCPOA began. The agreement had been sold to critics as something that would keep Iran well over a year away from nuclear \u201cbreakout\u201d even though it wouldn\u2019t cut the regime off from nuclear weapons capability altogether. But that claim was seriously undermined by the systematic violations that Iran began in 2019.<\/p>\n

For many of the critics, the instantaneous growth of Iran\u2019s uranium stockpiles and enrichment levels was clear evidence that the regime had never followed through in fully adopting the agreed-upon restrictions in the first place. This was explicitly confirmed later in 2019 by none other than the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iranian regime, Ali Akbar Salehi. \u201cThey thought that they won the negotiation,\u201d he said of Western signatories to the JCPOA. \u201cBut we had a countermeasure, and while we proceeded with the case, they didn\u2019t achieve what they planned for, and we did not become trapped in the enrichment deadlock.\u201d<\/p>\n

These comments came months after Salehi had already boasted to Iranian state media about how Iranian authorities had conspired to deceive the International Atomic Energy Agency regarding the Arak heavy water plant, which produces plutonium that could provide another pathway to nuclear weapons capability. The JCPOA established that the facility\u2019s core was to be filled with cement, thereby turning it into a light water plant and cutting off that pathway. But as Salehi explained, the AEOI obtained decoy tubing through which to pour the cement and then used altered photographs to convince international inspectors that the job was done.<\/p>\n

Such deceptive activities come as little surprise to those who opposed the JCPOA since the beginning. Instead, they recognize them as the continuation of a strategy that was established many years earlier, when Iranian regime\u2019s current president, Hassan Rouhani, was the country\u2019s chief nuclear negotiator. In the intervening years, he boasted to fellow regime officials about how the regime maintained a \u201ccalm environment\u201d in talks with Europe and the US, thereby staving off additional enforcement measures and allowing Iran to quietly advance its nuclear activities before eventually paying lip service to a modestly restrictive agreement.<\/p>\n

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Iranian Lobbyist\u2019s Arrest Should Lead To Broader Efforts To Counter Iran\u2019s Covert Influence<\/div><\/div>
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