Iran Insists On Enrichment
The U.S. Says Zero Enrichment. Iran Says No Deal.
The latest reporting in Al Jazeera shows Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei doubling down on Iran’s uranium enrichment capabilities, putting the future of the current talks between the Trump Administration and Iran on the latter’s nuclear weapons program.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has pledged that Tehran will not abandon its uranium enrichment, rejecting a key demand in a United States proposal aimed at resolving a long-running dispute over Iran’s nuclear programme.
Khamenei’s insistence that enrichment is a question of national sovereignty (treaty obligations under the NNPT not withstanding) comes as Iran also disputes a recent IAEA report showing that Iran has increased its stockpile of enriched uranium by as much as 50% just in the past few months. If correct, that indicates Iran accelerated uranium enrichment even as it agreed to negotiations with the Trump Administration over Iran and nuclear weapons.
The IAEA said that as of May 17, Iran had amassed 408.6kg (900.8 pounds) of uranium enriched up to 60 percent – the only non-nuclear weapon state to do so, according to the UN agency – and had increased its stockpile by almost 50 percent to 133.8kg since its last report in February.
The wide-ranging, confidential report seen by several news agencies said Iran carried out secret nuclear activities with material not declared to the IAEA at three locations that have long been under investigation, calling it a “serious concern” and warning Tehran to change its course.
Muddying the diplomatic waters even further, Iran’s negotiators are indicating that Iran is willing to negotiate on enrichment, even to accepting US envoy Steve Witkoff’s proposal for a regional consortium to provide uranium enriched to levels suitable for peaceful use (3%-5%). Iran agreeing to outsource uranium enrichment in this manner might reconcile Iran’s insistence on retaining enrichment capabilities.
As I have noted before, Iran has ratified the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which obligates it to refrain from nuclear weapons development and to cooperate with the IAEA on compliance verification. Its nuclear weapons program almost certainly is in violation of that treaty.
Donald Trump’s tenacity as well as his many claims of being the master deal maker are going to be seriously tested as talk with Iran move forward.
Will Donald Trump succeed in bringing the Iranians around to America’s way of thinking regarding nuclear weapons? At present, that outcome to these negotiations is increasingly unlikely.
This much appears certain. Iran cannot retain its nuclear enrichment capabilities and remain within the confines of the NNPT. If Iran is that determined to possess nuclear weapons, it will have to withdraw from the NNPT as North Korea did, and other nations will have to calibrate their relations with Iran accordingly.
How any of this plays out is anyone’s guess at this point.
Can Iran be trusted to enrich uranium only to levels necessary for civilian purposes?
Leave a comment below, or sound off in chat and share your thoughts on a potential nuclear weapons agreement with Iran.