In a recent article in the Gatestone Institute, top Iran expert Dr. Majid Rafizadeh warns that the Islamic Republic is close to a nuclear weapons breakout.
Rafizadeh, an Iranian-American author and president of the International American Council on the Middle East, explains that the UN’s nuclear watchdog, the IAEA recently revealed that he Tehran is now leisurely violating all of the clauses of the nuclear deal that it never even signed.
He adds that the ruling mullahs have grown their stockpile of low-enriched uranium to to 1,571.6 kilograms (1.73 tons) as of May 20, 2020. Initially, it stood at 1,020.9 kilograms (1.1 tons). This is roughly eight times more than what the Islamic Republic was permitted to posses under the nuclear deal otherwise known as the (JCPOA). Iran was allowed to maintain a stockpile of 202.8 kilograms (447 pounds) according to the agreement while enriching uranium up to 3.67%. Iran is currently enriching uranium up to the purity of 4.5%. They also have more heavy water than is allowed under the nuclear agreement.
Making matters worse, the IAEA is still not allowed to inspect Iran’s sites. And since Obama said that military sites wouldn’t be inspected by the IAEA, Tehran has exploited this loophole to enrich uranium in locations such as the Parchin military base outside of Tehran, where according to Rafizadeh, allows them to “engage in nuclear activities without the risk of inspection.”
Rafizadeh laments that the IAEA’s report still does not provide the full picture with regards to the regime’s nuclear activities and adds that it is severely underestimating the purview of the Iran’s nuclear program. Tehran has even admitted that they have increased uranium enrichment to a higher degree than what’s being reported by the IAEA. Iran’s Atomic Energy chief, Ali Akbar Salehi, announced that the country has a satisfactory supply of 20% enriched uranium. “Right now we have enough 20% uranium,” he told ISNA, “but we can produce more as needed”. He also said that the Islamic Republic is carrying on with its uranium enrichment at a much higher level at the Fordow nuclear facility. Fordow is an underground uranium enrichment complex that is reportedly located on an IRGC base.
Rafizadeh admits that Israel’s 2018 seizure of documents from an Iranian nuclear facility reveals accurate information that the IAEA was wrong about according to the Institute for Science and International Security.
Rafizadeh, a political scientist and board member of Harvard International Review concluded his report saying that the “ruling mullahs of Iran inch dangerously closer to a nuclear weapons breakout.”
Source: Israel in the News