When Iran’s secret underground Natanz nuclear site went black today, Iran accused Israel of “nuclear terrorism.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu makes no bones about calling Iran’s nuclear program an existential threat. Former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Oct. 5, 2011 that Israel must be “wiped off the map,” a reference to Iran’s openly belligerent attitude toward the Jewish State. Wasn’t that long ago Dec. 11, 2006 that Iran hosted a Holocaust deniers conference in Tehran, despite German Chancellor Angela Merkel confirming to the world that the Holocaust did in fact happen by Adolf Hitlers’s Third Reich. Israel views Iran’s nuclear enrichment program as an existential threat, believing that Tehran has been feverishly working on an A-bomb. Western intelligence officials concurred with Netanyahu that Iran’s break out time to a bomb is dangerously close.
Yesterday’s blackout at Natanz was viewed in Iran as “nuclear terrorism,” similar to the remote controlled machine gun attack on the father of Iran’s nuclear program Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, killing the nuclear scientist Nov. 27, 2020. Former President Donald Trump ended former President Barack Obama’s July 15, 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action [JCPOA] AKA the “Iranian Nuke Deal.” Obama entered into the agreement over Israel’s objections, that the deal didn’t increase the break out time for Iran to develop a bomb. Trump saw that the JCPOA had no verification provision, with the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA] locked out of Iran secret uranium enrichment facilities. Trump wanted to impose new sanctions to stop Iran’s proxy wars with Saudi Arabia and Israel. Now Biden wants to rejoin the JCPOA over Israel’s objections.
Biden’s decision to re-engage with Iran shows that he doesn’t get the degree of subterfuge and deception in the JCPOA, something Iran refused to fix. Iran talked a good game about compliance with the JCPOA until Trump pulled out and starting enriching uranium at a furious pace. IAEA inspectors didn’t know whether Iran ever stopped or limited per the JCPOA requirements its uranium enrichment. Knowing the lack of compliance with verification, Israel takes matters into its own hands when it launched the Stuxnet virus on Iran’s uranium enrichment sites in 2010. Today’s cyber-attack shutting down Natanz, at least temporarily, shows that Israel won’t sit idly by while Iran continues to violate its obligations under the JCPOA. Last July, Natanz also experienced an explosion, something Iran attributed to Israeli sabotage, another “act of terrorism” as Iran likes to call it.
Ali Akbar Salehi, head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, didn’t specifically blame Israel for the blackout at Natanz but the media certainly did. Iranian officials said there was a power outage at a nearby power plant, providing juice to Natanz. Whether the cyber attack was at Natanz or a power facility that feeds Natanz is anyone’s guess. “To thwart the goals of this terrorist movement, the Islamic Republic of Iran will continue to seriously improve nuclear technology on the one hand and to lift oppressive sanctions on the other hand,” Salehi said. Iran calls the cyber attack “nuclear terrorism,” but doesn’t consider its illicit uranium enrichment program a rogue terrorism program designed to enrich enough uranium for an A-bomb. Iran wants the IAEA to investigate and condemn the attack, believing that Iran’s well within its rights to enrich as much uranium as it wants.
Biden wants to return to the JCPOA because it’s part of his Obama administration legacy, looking to erase anything that Trump did to Obama’s past policies. When it comes to the JCPOA, Biden doesn’t see that handing Iran $1.6 billion in cash and $150 billion in sanctions relief embolden Iran to start a proxy war using Yemin’s Houthi rebels to undermine Saudi Arabia and Israel. As long as Iran was waging proxy war with Saudi Arabia and Israel, Trump couldn’t see abiding by the terms of the JCPOA. “While condemning his desperate move, the Islamic Republic of Iran emphasizes the need for confrontation by the international bodies and the [International Atomic Energy Agency’ against this nuclear terrorism,” Salehi said. Whatever the temporary blackout, Natanz will be up and running soon, continuing to breach the JCPOA limits for nuclear enrichment Iran continues to violate.
Calling the outage at Natanz and act of “nuclear terrorism,” Iran misses the essential part of it flouting the JCPOA, enriching uranium to near weapons grade all because Trump pulled out of the original agreement. Trump pulled out because the U.S. government needed a way to enforce the JCPOA but, more importantly, to stop Iran’s proxy wars with Saudi Arabia and Israel. Trying to piece together the remnants of the JCPOA is an hour-late-and-dollar short with Iran violating the terms of the agreement from the get-go, especially waging proxy wars against Saudi Arabia and Israel. Iran doesn’t trust the U.S., demanding that any return to the JCPOA must start first with the U.S. ending all sanctions. But as Netanyahu knows, returning to the JCPOA means nothing when it comes to Iran’s proxy wars and certainly its secret uranium enrichment program that’s beyond IAEA verification.
author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
