The head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog said Monday that there were “weeks” left to salvage the nuclear deal with Iran.
Rafael Grossi, director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said at the Reuters Next conference that Tehran was advancing “quite rapidly” toward enriching uranium to 20 percent, as it has announced it would, in breach of the accord. He said the IAEA has assessed Iran will be able to produce some 10 kilograms a month.
The comments came two days after Iranian lawmaker Ahmad Amirabadi Farahani declared that Tehran would expel IAEA inspectors in February unless the US lifts its sanctions on the country.
With internal politics in Israel and the United States in total disarray, Iran’s strategy is clear: make hay while the sun shines. If you thought 2020 was the Year of Living Dangerously, then in the words of the great Ronald Reagan, “you ain’t seen nothing yet.” From 20% enrichment to 90% is but a hop, skip and a jump. Will Biden hop to it when Iran increases its blackmailing tactics? Will Netanyahu carry out his pledge that Iran will never be allowed to have a nuclear weapon? With yet another paralysing Israeli election in two months’ time, the Ides of March have never looked more threatening since the rule of Julius Caesar. Once again, for Israel it’s a case of you’re damned if you do (attack the nuclear installations) and you’re damned if you don’t. Meanwhile, the EU and the new Democratic administration in the US should bear in mind the Iranian proverb: a blind man who sees is better than a sighted man who is blind. They must not continue to close their eyes to the fact that they are being played for suckers, and that nothing short of a devastating attack on Iran’s nuclear sites will prevent Iran from achieving its aims, JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) or no JCPOA.