The sanctions waiver will enable Iran to develop its Arak heavy-water reactor, Bushehr nuclear power plant, and Fordow nuclear enrichment plant, Reuters noted. All these sites are deeply involved to Iran’s rogue nuclear weapons program. Writes Vijeta Uniyal
Iranian foreign minister says Biden’s nuclear waiver “is not enough” as regime rushes to build a bomb.
President Joe Biden’s administration has lifted sanctions on Iran’s ‘civilian’ nuclear program in a desperate bid to restore the 2015 nuclear deal. “Secretary of State Antony Blinken signed several sanctions waivers related to Iran’s civilian nuclear activities,” The Associated Press reported Friday. “The move reverses the Trump administration’s decision to rescind them,” the news agency added.
President Biden’s waiver paves the way for private companies and state-owned players from Russia, China, and Europe to help Iran build up its nuclear infrastructure, news reports confirm.
The sanctions waiver will enable Iran to develop its Arak heavy-water reactor, Bushehr nuclear power plant, and Fordow nuclear enrichment plant, Reuters noted. All these sites are deeply involved to Iran’s rogue nuclear weapons program.
With its nuclear facilities working towards a bomb, Tehran dismissed Biden’s latest concession as “insufficient.” Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian declared on Saturday that the waiver “is not enough” for the regime to abandon its nuclear weapons program.
Reuters reported the Biden administration’s massive concession to Iran:
President Joe Biden’s administration on Friday restored sanctions waivers to Iran to allow international nuclear cooperation projects, as indirect American-Iranian talks on reviving the 2015 international nuclear deal with Tehran enter the final stretch.
The waivers had allowed Russian, Chinese and European companies to carry out non-proliferation work to effectively make it harder for Iranian nuclear sites to be used for weapons development. The waivers were rescinded by the United States in 2019 and 2020 under former President Donald Trump, who pulled out of the nuclear agreement. (…)
The State Department has sent a report signed by Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Congress explaining that restoring the waivers will help the talks in Vienna on returning to the deal reached between Iran and a group of countries including China, France, Germany, Russia, Britain and the United States. The agreement is formally called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
“The waiver with respect to these activities is designed to facilitate discussions that would help to close a deal on a mutual return to full implementation of the JCPOA and lay the groundwork for Iran’s return to performance of its JCPOA commitments,” according to the report, a copy of which seen by Reuters. (…)
The activities, according to the report, include redesign of Iran’s Arak heavy-water reactor, the preparation and modification of its Fordow facility for stable isotope production, operations, training and services related to its Bushehr nuclear power plant, among several other things.
Senator Ted Cruz called out the Biden White House for continuing to misinform the public. “President Biden and Biden-Harris officials are lying to journalists and the American people,” Sen. Cruz wrote on Twitter. “They informed Congress that they are dismantling sanctions on Iran’s nuclear program, and allowing Russia and China to help the Ayatollah build up his nuclear weapons program,” he added.
The nuclear waiver granted by President Biden will only embolden Iran as it races towards a nuke. In December 2021, the United Nations’ nuclear agency, IAEA, admitted that Tehran was merely “a short, technical step from weapons-grade levels of 90%.”
In late December, Iran tested a series of nuclear-capable ballistic missiles. The military demonstration was aimed at Israel, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) confirmed. In recent months, an Iranian military spokesman has threatened to ‘annihilate’ Israel and a state-affiliated newspaper has published a list of possible missile targets in the country.
