![\"Alireza-Jafarzadeh-deputy-director-of-the-National-Council-of-Resistance-of-Iran\"](\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/04\/Alireza-Jafarzadeh-deputy-director-of-the-National-Council-of-Resistance-of-Iran.jpg\" "\\"Alireza")
\n‘There’s no way the Iranian regime wants to lose this agreement’<\/strong><\/p>\n President Trump\u2019s instinct is to scrap the Iran nuclear deal while French President Emmanuel Macron is willing to amend it but not rescind it without another plan in place, but a leading figure in the Iranian resistance says the deal doesn\u2019t stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons but does help the radical mullahs stay in power.<\/p>\n President Trump has until May 12 to declare whether Iran is in compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, and determine whether the U.S. will remain a party to the seven-nation agreement.<\/p>\n Alireza Jafarzadeh, deputy director of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, told WND and Radio America that despite Tehran\u2019s bluster about exiting the deal if the U.S. does, the Iranian leaders badly need the agreement to continue.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s no way the Iranian regime wants to lose this agreement. They want to do everything possible to keep it, because the regime knows that absent this agreement, there\u2019s really not too many other options left for them,\u201d said Jafarzadeh, who argued threats to the contrary are nothing but \u201chot air.\u201d<\/p>\n He said that\u2019s because internal unrest is reaching a boiling point.<\/p>\n \u201cThe regime is facing tremendous problems domestically, particularly on the economic side of it,\u201d Jafarzadeh said. \u201cWe\u2019ve seen the uprising going on since December that were built around the economic corruption in Iran and the high rise in prices for very basic food. Inflation is so high. Inflation is skyrocketing.\u201d<\/p>\n Listen to the WND\/Radio America interview with Alireza Jafarzadeh:<\/p>\n Iran is clamping down on media outlets and social media, so reports of the ongoing protests are hard to find. But Jafarzadeh said they are still going strong and are appearing in many different parts of the country.<\/p>\n \u201cThe protests are continuing ever since they started. It expanded to 142 cities, starting back in December,\u201d said Jafarzadeh, listing off a number of cities seeing major protests in the past several days.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery week, there is a new hot spot in Iran,\u201d he said. \u201cPeople are chanting with the same intensity against the regime, making significant demands, none of which the regime can really meet.\u201d<\/p>\n He said some chants even explicitly scold the government for blaming its problems on America and stating that only the Iranian regime is to blame.<\/p>\n Keeping the deal in place is critical for the Iranian leaders because the money that flowed back into Iran from the agreement has been trumpeted as the solution to Iran\u2019s economic problems.<\/p>\n However, even that good fortune could soon backfire on Iran\u2019s leadership \u201conce the people realize that all the money that was given to the Iranian regime ended up in the pocket of the mullahs, the ayatollahs, and the Revolutionary Guard.\u201d<\/p>\n Jafarzadeh continued: \u201cIt was basically the military structure and the clerical structure that benefited from that. Imagine if there\u2019s more pressure built against the regime, what kind of political problems it\u2019s going to create for the Iranian regime.\u201d<\/p>\n The more pertinent issue for Trump, Macron and other world leaders is whether the JCPOA is actually preventing the advancement of Iran\u2019s nuclear program. Jafarzadeh is convinced it doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n \u201cThe agreement has kept almost all of the nuclear infrastructure of the Iranian regime intact,\u201d he said. \u201cIt has allowed the research and development of more advanced centrifuges that could actually enrich uranium much faster and more efficiently further down the road.<\/p>\n \u201cIt hasn\u2019t put any meaningful restrictions on the missile program of the Iranian regime, which is really marching forward with more missile tests on nuclear-capable ballistic missiles. And it has this ridiculous sunset clause. In a few years, all those restrictions on the nuclear program are removed.\u201d<\/p>\n And he said the hurdles to inspections make enforcement of the existing deal virtually impossible.<\/p>\n \u201cMost importantly, there\u2019s no serious access and inspection of a number of nuclear sites where the core of the nuclear program of Iran is,\u201d Jafarzadeh said. \u201cIt\u2019s not just the enrichment but the weaponization part of the program. We exposed at least six nuclear sites we believe need to be inspected.\u201d<\/p>\n He said the bottom line is the JCPOA doesn\u2019t stop Iran from getting nukes.<\/p>\n \u201cAs of now, the current restrictions are not sufficient enough to prevent the Iranian regime from developing nuclear weapons further down the road,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" ‘There’s no way the Iranian regime wants to lose this agreement’ President Trump’s instinct is to scrap the Iran nuclear deal while French President Emmanuel Macron is willing to amend […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":51111,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[178],"class_list":["post-24686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nuclear","tag-save"],"yoast_head":"\n