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Iran nuclear deal: Israel attacks Iran as talks progress

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Israel’s prime minister has called on the US and its allies to “wake up” to the threat of Iran as talks continue to revive a landmark deal to limit the country’s nuclear programme.

File photo : A report in late November 2020 from the International Atomic Energy Agency concluded that Iran now has more than 12 times the amount of enriched uranium permitted under a 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. It now has a stockpile of more than 2,442 kilograms(5,385 pounds) , of low-enriched uranium. That is enough to produce about two nuclear weapons, according to an analysis of the report by the Institute for Science and International Security. But it would require several months of additional processing to enrich the uranium to bomb-grade material, meaning that Iran would be close to a bomb by late spring 2021 . Iran has been trying to pressure President Biden into rejoining the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) without pre-condition but top administration officials are in no hurry and consider Iran’s pressure sort of a blackmail

Naftali Bennett said Iran’s “regime of brutal hangmen” wants nuclear weapons, something Iran has repeatedly denied.

Diplomats said progress was made to renew the deal, which the US withdrew from under President Donald Trump, but there were still gaps to be bridged.

Israel opposes the agreement.

Iran elected hardliner Ebrahim Raisi, the country’s top judge who holds ultra-conservative views, as new president on Friday, in a race widely seen as being designed to favour him.

The president-elect – who will be inaugurated in August – is under US sanctions and has been linked to past executions of political prisoners.

Negotiators from the six signatory countries – the US, UK, France, China, Russia and Germany – and Iran have been holding talks since April to revive the deal, which saw Iran limit its nuclear activities in return for sanctions relief.

Iran, however, has been violating the deal since the US unilaterally left it.

On Sunday, the countries gathered for a sixth round of indirect talks between the US and Iran in Vienna, but adjourned for the delegates to return to their capitals.

Iran nuclear crisis: The basics 

  • World powers don’t trust Iran: Some countries believe Iran wants nuclear power because it wants to build a nuclear bomb – it denies this. 
  • So a deal was struck: In 2015, Iran and six other countries reached a major agreement. Iran would stop some nuclear work in return for an end to harsh penalties, or sanctions, hurting its economy. 
  • What is the problem now? Iran re-started banned nuclear work after former US President Donald Trump pulled out of the deal and re-imposed sanctions on Iran. Even though new leader Joe Biden wants to rejoin, both sides say the other must make the first move.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told state television the parties were “now closer than ever” to a deal, but added that bridging the remaining distance between them was “not an easy job”.

Enrique Mora, envoy for the EU, echoed Mr Araqchi, saying progress on technical issues had given them greater clarity, giving them a “clear idea of what the political problems are”.

The US national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said there was “still a fair distance to travel” on issues including sanctions and on the commitments Iran needed to make. Iran is currently enriching uranium at its highest levels ever, although still short of what is needed to make nuclear-grade weapons.

A spokesman for the US state department earlier said the indirect talks would still continue after Mr Raisi takes power.

Why does Israel oppose the deal?

Iran and Israel have been in a long-running “shadow war”, which has resulted in both countries taking part in tit-for-tat actions, but so far avoiding all-out conflict. 

Ayatollah Khamenei – Iran’s supreme leader – has repeatedly called for the elimination of the state of Israel. In 2018, he described the country as a “cancerous tumour” that had to be removed from the region.

Israel sees Iran as a major threat and has repeatedly insisted that it wants to develop nuclear weapons. 

Prime Minister Bennett told his cabinet this was “the last chance for world powers to wake up… and understand who they are doing business with”.

“A regime of brutal hangmen must never be allowed to have weapons of mass destruction.”

Recently the hostilities between the two countries have escalated again. Iran blames Israel for the murder of its top nuclear scientist last year and an attack on one of its uranium enrichment plants in April.

Bushehr plant shutdown 

In a related development

Iran’s nuclear power plant built by Russia has undergone a temporary emergency shutdown, state TV reported on Sunday.

An official from the state electric energy company, Gholamali Rakhshanimehr, said on a talk show that the Bushehr plant shutdown began on Saturday and would last “for three to four days.”

He said that power outages could result. He did not elaborate but this is the first time Iran has reported an emergency shutdown of the plant, located in the southern port city of Bushehr. It went online in 2011 with help from Russia.

BBC /YL

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4 responses to “Iran nuclear deal: Israel attacks Iran as talks progress”

  1. vs Avatar
    vs

    Apparently, Saudi Orabia plans to become an exporter of electricity. Saudi Orabia and SoftBank Group signed an agreement on the construction of a solar power plant with a capacity of 200 gigawatts for $ 200 billion
    The announced project is large-scale: 200 GW is about 2.5 times more than the entire installed power capacity of Saudi Orabia today (less than 80 GW) and is comparable to the entire capacity of the Russian power system (244 GW). Interestingly, plans were also announced earlier this year to build a 5 GW thermal solar power plant (CSP) in Dubai, as well as over 5 GW solar capacity in Abu Dhabi (construction of a 1.17 GW plant has already started)

  2. vs Avatar
    vs

    Iranian opposition figures: A centrifuge site was attacked in Iran this morning
    Sources affiliated with the Iranian opposition report that the nuclear facility that was the target of the attack this morning belongs to the Iranian company TESA and serves as the only site in Iran for the production of centrifuges that the Iranians install at nuclear uranium enrichment sites (Netanz for example).
    These factors do not rule out the possibility that the attack was carried out using advanced fighter jets and not using UAVs as Iranian media outlets affiliated with the ayatollah regime claim

  3. vs Avatar
    vs

    The attack on Iran yesterday

    The American New York Times publishes an extensive article this morning in which it is explained that the nuclear facility that was the target of the attack yesterday in Karaj belongs to TESA, where the centrifuges installed at Iranian nuclear sites such as Netanz are manufactured.
    The leading television channels in Israel also reported last night in a 20:00 edition that the target of the attack was a factory for the production of centrifuges.
    (Anyone who reads here on the channel knew this before everyone else).
    On the issue of scheduling I wrote a few days ago that a “urgent malfunction” was reported that shut down the Bushhar nuclear reactor.
    There is no doubt that there is a concentration of effort here, before the signing of the forthcoming nuclear agreement in huge strides and the attacked targets are particularly valuable targets in terms of delaying the nuclear program.
    If we add for a moment the significant damage caused to hundreds of centrifuges in the significant explosion at the Natanzz nuclear facility last April, then it is clear that a new supply of centrifuges produced at the target attacked yesterday is needed.
    It is likely that whoever was behind the explosion in Natanz knows a thing or two about yesterday’s attack, which looks exactly like a pre-planned sequel.
    It is still unclear the extent of the damage caused yesterday to the facility that was attacked, if at all. This will surely be revealed in the satellite photos of the area that will be published soon

  4. vs Avatar
    vs

    Against the background of the possibility that a UAV operated from Iranian territory hit the Iranian nuclear facility in Karaj yesterday, the Iranian Aviation Authority announced today the obligation to register all gliders and aircraft in the country.
    An agency spokesman announced that within 6 months from now, every aircraft holder of any type must obtain a license and report to the authorities the details of the vehicle in his possession

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