Denying the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA] inspectors images of Iran’s nuclear sites, Iran’s parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf insisted the obvious, that IAEA inspectors never had access to Iran’s sensitive nuclear sites under the July 15, 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. Working feverishly in Vienna, the P5+1, including the U.S., U.K., France, Russia, China and Germany, are busy trying to resuscitate the moribund nuclear agreement. When former President Donald Trump pulled out of the agreement May 8, 2018, Iran was furious that Trump used “snap-back” sanctions to punish the Islamic Republic for noncompliance. Iran insisted the IAEA had access to nuclear sites but only to ones approved by Iran’s 81-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Trump saw the utter farce in former President Barack Obama Iranian Nuke Deal.
Not only was Iran not submitting at its enrichment sites to IAEA inspections but it was conducting at least two proxy wars against U.S. allies, Egypt and Israel. On the Egypt front, Iran has supplied arms-and-cash to Yemen’s Houthi rebels that proceeds to fire missiles at Saudi Arabia’s Aramco oil refineries. Iran’s 2019 attack on Saudi’s Abaqaiq-Khurais oil refinery disrupted about 25% of the world’s refined petroleum products, including unleaded gasoline, diesel and jet fuel. Supplying rockets and cash to Hamas in Gaza also continued the proxy war against Israel. Iran thinks nothing of fomenting revolution around the Middle East, presenting itself as a victim of Western aggression. Today’s announcement by Oalibaf indicates that Iran has no intention of complying with anything in a new JCPOA, expecting Biden to end all of Trump’s sanctions to get a new agreement.
After the 10-day-long Hamas rocket war with Israel, it’s clear that Iran has no plans to stop supplying rockets to the Gaza Strip. Keeping the proxy war going with Israel allows Iran to promote itself as the savior of Islam, when, in fact, Saudi’s Sunni Islam wants no part of Shiites, something the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia calls apostates. “Regarding this, and based on expiration of the three-month deadline, definitely that International Atomic Energy Agency will not have the right to access images from May 22, Qalibaf said, making a mockery of any new peace deal. Biden and his 58-year-old Secretary of State Tony Blinken have been hell-bent re-establishing the Iranian Nuke Deal, while Saudi Arabia has no interest in giving up its arms production, especially if Iran continues its state-sponsored terrorism, letting Hamas shoot missiles at Israeli indiscriminately.
Re-entering the Nuke Deal can only happen if there’s some verification of Iran’s nuclear enrichment program. Ayatollah Khemeneii said Iran would no allow IAEA inspectors to enter Iran’s secret military enrichment sites where Iran has enriched uranium to about 50%, capable of producing nuclear bombs. Netanyahu’s committed to keeping nukes out of Iranian hands, especially with treats to “wipe Israel off the map.” While Khamenei explained he’s talking figuratively, Israel takes it as an existential threat to the Jewish State. Without IAEA inspectors verifying Iran’s nuclear enrichment program, there’s no way to determine whether or not Iran’s in compliance with the specific parameters of the agreement. Iran’s decision today to prevent IAEA inspectors from seeing images of the sites indicates that Iran’s prepared to cheat its way through any new nuke agreement.
Before Biden signs onto a new Iranian Nuke, he needs Iran to stop its proxy wars with Saudi Arabia and Israel. Watching Yemen’s Houthi rebels continue to fire missiles into Saudi Arabia, does nothing but disrupt the world’s oil supply. Biden has pushed Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman into Iran’s orbit, continuing to slam Bin Salman for the Oct. 2, 2018 death of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi by an organized hit most likely ordered by Bin Salman. But no matter what happened to Khashoggi, it’s bad foreign policy to drive Saudi Arabia into the hands of Russia or, worse yet, Iran. Saudi Arabia remains an important strategic ally to the United States, regardless of what happened to Khashoggi. Biden’s foreign policy teams seems inclined to climb onto a high horse and slam other countries that don’t measure up to U.S. standards, like Russia and China.
Irian’s decision to end imagery of in nuclear enrichment facilities continues the cover-up of its weapons grade enrichment programs, developing enough fissile material to build several nuclear bombs. There’s no point in starting up the Iranian Nuke Deal unless Iran complies with strict enrichment limits. Members of the P5+1 are starting to see that Iran was out of compliance from the get-go, never taking the July 15, 2015 deal seriously. Iran cannot be given sanctions relief unless it’s prepared to come clean about its current enrichment levels. Whatever glimpse the Gaza War gave the world about Israel’s mission against Hamas terrorists, Netanyahu, if he’s still in power, wouldn’t hesitate to pre-emptively strike Iran to stop the bomb. No one in the Biden State Department has offered any guarantee that that Iran isn’t continuing to develop weapons grade fissile material for a bomb.
