The world’s leading sponsor of terrorism will move one step closer to building a nuclear weapon while thumbing its nose at the United States.
With Joe Biden in the White House, Iran rejected negotiations to return to the lopsided nuclear pact brokered during the Obama years. The deal sent billions in U.S. dollars to the rogue nation in return for not building a nuclear weapon before 2030. Former President Donald Trump scuttled the deal because Iran never complied with the terms, and lifting sanctions allowed the radical regime to fund terror organizations.
Mr. Trump’s throttling of Iran’s economy tamped down its ability to promote terrorism and held it in nuclear check. The hardliners running the Middle Eastern nation now sense Biden’s weakness. They announced to the world their nuclear program is about to ramp up uranium enrichment to 60 percent. The timing added insult to injury after Biden had U.S. negotiators invite themselves to recent Vienna talks to discuss nuclear weapons issues. Iran further humiliated Biden and the U.S. by refusing direct negotiations. At one point, Iranian officials intimated that if Biden lifted all sanctions for non-compliance, they’d return to the inadequate Obama-era deal for a month or two.
Reports recently indicated that Iran was inching closer to a weapon at a facility known as Natanz. Israel launched a preemptive strike on it to slow the rogue regime’s nuclear weapons capabilities. It was the second time in less than a year the Jewish State took preventative measures to curb the radical regime’s lust for a weapon of mass destruction.
“The Zionists wanted to take revenge against the Iranian people for their success on the path of lifting sanctions. But we do not allow (it) and we will take revenge for this action against the Zionists,” Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif reportedly said.
Reports indicate Iran installed nearly 800 advanced centrifuges at Natanz. This equipment produces enriched uranium five times faster than the centrifuges in its previous technology arsenal. Israel’s strike against the Natanz nuclear facility, coupled with a nuclear scientist’s assassination, appears to have temporarily scuttled the program.
Biden’s weak foreign policy forces Israel to take a de facto lead role in the Middle East. Recent comments from former National Security Council member Gary Samore, who worked with Biden during the Obama years, demonstrates the lead-from-behind approach is back.
“The Iranians believe their nuclear activity provides leverage in the talks,” Samore said. “Since some portion of Natanz appears to have been knocked out for some period, that weakens their leverage, and they have compensated by announcing higher enrichment levels.”
Notions about “leverage” in negotiations echo the precise failed approaches that allow Iran to move forward and fulfill its nuclear weapons intentions. Iran’s hardline leaders pushed Obama around and view Biden as an even weaker adversary. That’s why Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif threatened to promptly restart uranium enrichment following the Vienna talks.
“I assure you that in the near future, more advanced uranium enrichment centrifuges will be placed in the Natanz facility,” Zarif reportedly said.
