IRAN UPDATE: Is the World’s Largest State Sponsor of Terrorism About To Go Nuclear?

Recently the European Union delivered to Iran the “final text” of the renegotiated Iran nuclear deal, or JCPOA.  The negotiators, who had been the arbitrators in Vienna between Tehran and the United States, said the final decision was now up to Iran.  The negotiations between the parties ended on August 8th after four days of talks.

It is of great concern that the EU representatives said the United States had agreed to all the stipulations in the new document.  While we do not yet have all the details of the new nuclear agreement, here is what to expect if Iran accepts the provisions of the final offer from the U.S. and our European allies:

• It is highly unlikely that Washington agreed to take the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) off the list of terrorist organizations.  Iran had insisted on this.  The U.S. has consistently refused. However, if the other benefits to the rogue nation are appealing and beneficial enough to their nuclear research and development—expect the Iranians to acquiesce keeping the IRGC listed as terrorists.

• The huge benefit to Iran is the new proposal will lift the sanctions on Iran and give them billions of dollars in cash immediately and billions more as they can legally enter the international market and begin selling oil.  It will make the billions given to them by the Obama Administration seem like a modest windfall.  When this happened in 2016, Iran used the new funds to aggressively work on a nuclear weapon and to dramatically increase their funding of terrorist groups throughout the region.  When President Obama released the funds to Iran, for example, it was then that Iran gave new weapons and logistical support to the Houthi Rebels, which enabled the group to overthrow the government in Yemen.  They also used the funds to send thousands of new rockets and missiles to Hamas and Hezbollah, two terror groups who use these weapons to attack civilians in Israel.

• Iran insists in the proposed new agreement that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) stop their investigation that began recently when IAEA inspectors found nuclear residue on three undeclared sites in Iran.  I predict that the U.S. and the E.U. will agree to this demand from Iran.

• Part of the reason the U.S. and E.U. will agree to this is because it is a bit of a moot point:  Under the original JCPOA, all Iranian military installations were off limits to any inspections anyway.  That is the likely place where Iran is hiding its research into building its first nuclear weapon.  As crazy as that sounds, the Obama-Biden Administration agreed to it years ago, and the Biden Administration is not likely to change their position now.

• The original agreement prohibited looking at, or restricting, Iran’s ballistic missile program.  Of course, that missile program provides the vehicle by which Iran could deliver a nuclear weapon once they acquire the weapon.  Again, if Obama-Biden agreed to it in 2015, it’s unlikely the present Administration will have any objections now.  The same negotiators in the Obama White House are now with the Biden Administration.

Meanwhile, Iran has almost 100 pounds of uranium enriched at the 60% level.  The IAEA reports that this is more than enough to produce one nuclear bomb.  The original JCPOA had limited the enrichment level to 3.67%.  However, more ominously, Iran now has advanced centrifuges that can take this uranium to the required enrichment level of 90% which is weapons grade—in a matter of weeks, according to the IAEA.  The original Iran nuclear deal (which was only a true “deal” for Iran and not for the U.S.) gave Iran tacit permission to have a nuclear weapon in about 10 years.  As it now stands, Iran could conceivably have a weapon in a few weeks if they chose to do so—thanks to the enablement of the Biden Administration and the naïve foreign policy of our European partners.

The only hope for the peace-loving, civilized world is if Iran rejects the final document which was delivered to Tehran last week.  The E.U. expects an answer from them in about two weeks.  If Iran signs off on this, it is a game-changer.  They will have billions in cash and the ability to acquire a nuclear weapon and the ability to deliver it in the very near future. 

These U.S. negotiations with the world’s largest state-sponsor of terrorism defy logic and common sense.  The stance of the U.S. representatives and their willingness to look the other way regarding the facts on the ground, to say nothing of the warnings of the IAEA, are a threat to peace and the national security of the United States and our allies.  Israel and our Gulf State allies are against this potential new deal with Iran for good reason. If Iran rejects it, we must stop the insanity and take a different tact to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.