Iran Developing Advanced Nuclear Capabilities, Reducing Time to Weapon
- Adam Kredo - http://freebeacon.com/national-security/iran-developing-advanced-nuclear-capabilities-heightening-time-weapon/
Report: Iran stockpiling illicit nuclear parts to shorten time to weapon
Iran is believed to be developing advanced nuclear-related capabilities that could significantly reduce the time it needs to build a deliverable nuclear weapon, according to statements by Iranian officials that have fueled speculation among White House officials and nuclear experts that the landmark accord has heightened rather than reduced the Islamic Regime's nuclear threat.
The head of Iran's nuclear program recently announced the Islamic Republic could mass produce advanced nuclear centrifuges capable of more quickly enriching uranium, the key component in a nuclear weapon. Work of this nature appears to violate key clauses of the nuclear agreement that prohibits Iran from engaging in such activity for the next decade or so.
The mass production of this equipment "would greatly expand Iran's ability to sneak-out or breakout to nuclear weapons capability," according to nuclear verification experts who disclosed in a recent report that restrictions imposed by the Iran deal are failing to stop the Islamic Republic's nuclear pursuits.
The latest report has reignited calls for the Trump administration to increase its enforcement of the nuclear deal and pressure international nuclear inspectors to demand greater access to Iran's nuclear sites.
It remains unclear if nuclear inspectors affiliated with the International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA, have investigated Iran's pursuit of advanced centrifuges, according to the report, which explains that greater access to Iran's sites is needed to verify its compliance with the deal.
The report comes amid renewed concerns about Iran's adherence to the nuclear agreement and its increased efforts to construct ballistic missiles, which violate international accords barring such behavior.
"Iran could have already stockpiled many advanced centrifuge components, associated raw materials, and the equipment necessary to operate a large number of advanced centrifuges," according to a report by the Institute for Science and International Security. "The United States and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) need to determine the status of Iran's centrifuge manufacturing capabilities, including the number of key centrifuge parts Iran has made and the amount of centrifuge equipment it has procured."
Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, bragged in April that Tehran is prepared to mass-produce advanced centrifuges on "short notice." Work of this nature would greatly increase the amount of nuclear fissile material produced by Iran, prompting concerns the country could assemble a functional nuclear weapon without being detected.
The issue is complicated by the lack of access international nuclear inspectors have to Iran's contested military sites, according to the report.
Salehi's declaration highlights the "profound weaknesses in the JCPOA which include lack of inspector access, highly incomplete knowledge of Iran's centrifuge manufacturing capabilities and output, and too few centrifuge components being accounted for and monitored," according to the report.
Iran already has manufactured more centrifuge parts than needed for the amount of nuclear work permitted under the agreement.
The terms of the agreement permit Iran to operate one advanced IR-8 centrifuge. However, Iran is known to have assembled more than half a dozen such centrifuges.
Iran also is working to construct IR-6 centrifuges, which also point to an increased focus on the production of enriched nuclear materials.
"These numbers are excessive and inconsistent with the JCPOA," according to the report. "Moreover, in light of Salehi's comments, the excessive production of [centrifuge] rotors may be part of a plan to lay the basis for mass production."
Iran's work on "any such plan is not included in Iran's enrichment plan under the JCPOA," according to the report.
Inspectors affiliated with the IAEA should immediately investigate the total number of centrifuge parts in Iran's possession and determine exactly how many of these parts are currently being manufactured, the report states. The IAEA also should attempt to keep tabs on any clandestine nuclear work Iran may be engaging in.
Iran may be misleading the world about its centrifuge production and it still has not declared all materials related to this work, as is obligated under the nuclear deal.
"A key question is whether Iran is secretly making centrifuge rotor tubes and bellows at unknown locations, in violation of the JCPOA, and if it takes place, what the probability is that it goes without detection," the report concludes.
Additionally, "the United States and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) need to determine the status of Iran's centrifuge manufacturing capabilities, including the number of key centrifuge parts Iran has made and the amount of centrifuge equipment it has procured," the report states.
"They need to ensure that Iran's centrifuge manufacturing is consistent with the intent of the nuclear deal as well as the deal's specific limitations on advanced centrifuges," according to the report. "Moreover, the Iranian statement illuminates significant weaknesses in the Iran deal that need to be fixed."
When asked to address the issue, a State Department official told the Washington Free Beacon that Iran's centrifuge work remains very "limited" under the nuclear agreement.
"Under the JCPOA, consistent with Iran's enrichment and enrichment and [research and development] plan, Iran can only engage in production of centrifuges, including centrifuge rotors and associated components, to meet the enrichment and R&D requirements of the JCPOA," the official said. "In other words, Iran's production of centrifuges and associated components are limited to be consistent with the small scale of R&D that is permissible under the JCPOA."
If Iran is in violation of the deal, the United States will take concrete action to address this once the Trump administration finishes its interagency review of the Iran deal.
"The Trump administration has made clear that at least until this review is completed, we will adhere to the JCPOA and will ensure that Iran is held strictly accountable to its requirements," the official said.
Qatar under Arab boycott for scheming with Iran - http://www.debka.com/article/26088/Qatar-under-Arab-boycott-for-scheming-with-Iran
Qatar has come under a far-reaching boycott at the hands of the most powerful Arab governments for taking Iran's side against its Sunni Arab fellows. Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirate and Bahrain announced early Monday, June 5, that they were breaking off diplomatic ties and all land, sea and airports contacts with Qatar. Their nationals were told to sever business ties and quit the emirate, while Qataris were given 48 hours to leave those countries. This is the most serious diplomatic crisis to hit the Arab world - and split the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) - in many years.
Qatar and its Al-Jazeera TV channel have long been a thorn in the sides of Doha's Arab fellows, accused of hosting and providing a platform for terrorist groups and extremists, including the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas. However, as DEBKA Weekly revealed in its June 2 issue, the last straw which prompted this unprecedented Arab retribution was the intrigue hatched by Qatar's ruler Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani to abort the US-Saudi initiative for establishing a Sunni alignment against Tehran.
President Donald Trump showcased its establishment during his visit to Riyadh on May 22.
A week earlier, the emir sent his foreign Minister, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani to Tehran to carry his scheme forward. He was received on the spot by the Iranian powerhouse, Al Qods chief Gen. Qassem Soleimani, commander of Iranian forces in Iraq and Syria. They put their heads together on a plan for torpedoing US operations in the two conflicted countries. They also discussed Doha's reward for its cooperation.
Qatar's rulers had no qualms about scheming against Washington, even though America's biggest air base in the Gulf region is located at Al Udeid southwest of Doha, their capital. Neither did the emir skip warmly shaking hands with Trump in Riyadh.
The Qatari rift with Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt finally burst into the open shortly after President Trump ended his Middle East trip. On May 25, an article in Qatar's state-run news agency quoted the emir as criticizing the US, Saudi Arabia and their "client states" for attempting to stir up tensions with the "Islamic power" - Iran. Qatari's foreign minister was also quoted as announcing the withdrawal of its ambassadors from Kuwait, Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Later, Doha claimed the agency had been hacked and those statements were never made. But the row continued to escalate nonetheless. Saudi media accused Qatar of "betraying" its Arab brothers, stabbing them in the back when they staged groundbreaking events to demonstrate their unity.The Saudis, Egyptians and the UAE then blocked Qatari websites and broadcasters, including Al Jazeera, from their territories.
Behind the public recriminations, our sources reported that King Salman, Egypt's Abdel-Fatteh-El-Sisi and the UAE ruler Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan delivered a firm ultimatum to the Qatari emir. He was warned of stiff penalties unless he toed the line and did the following:
1. Broke off all military and intelligence ties with Tehran.
2. Abrogated all the agreements he reached with Tehran - not only with regard to Syria and Iraq, but also other Arab countries, especially Libya.
3. Cancelled all the benefits and asylum arrangements Qatar extended to anti-Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood activists and deported them forthwith.
4. Severed Qatar's ties with the Palestinian fundamentalist Hamas group ruling the Gaza Strip and denied their leaders residence permits in Doha with their families. Last week, King Salman asked Egyptian President Abdul-Fatteh El-Sisi to refuse passage through Cairo for Hamas' new political bureau chief Ismail Haniyah, who was planning to move out of Gaza and settle in Doha with his family. A few Hamas officials were given notice to leave, but that did not meet the ultimatum's main demands.
Iran Turns Wrath on U.S., Saudi Over Terror Attacks -
http://www.breitbart.com/jerusalem/2017/06/09/iran-turns-wrath-u-s-saudi-attacks/
Iran's supreme leader hit out at the United States and Saudi Arabia during the funerals Friday for those slain in the
first attacks in the country claimed by the Islamic State group.
first attacks in the country claimed by the Islamic State group.
The assault by gunmen and suicide bombers Wednesday on Tehran's parliament complex and the shrine of revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini
killed 17 people and wounded more than 50.
Mourners were paying respects to those killed at a ceremony in parliament on Friday morning, in the presence of newly re-elected moderate President Hassan
Rouhani.
Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei initially played down the attacks this week, describing them as "firecrackers" that "will not have the slightest
effect on the will of the people".
At Friday's funeral, however, he turned his wrath for the attacks on the United States and Saudi Arabia, his country's fiercest rivals.
"Such acts will have no other result than to reinforce hatred for the US government and its agents in the region, like the Saudi (government)," Khamenei
wrote in a message of condolence to the families of the dead.
Parliament speaker Ali Larijani also attacked the United States and Saudi Arabia, which he called "a tribal state very far from anything like a democracy".
In a speech at the ceremony, Larijani denounced US sanctions against Iran over its ballistic missile program.
The US "knows that the Revolutionary Guard and its Quds force are the most important regional forces fighting terrorists", he said.
The imposition of such sanctions "demonstrates their alignment with terrorists in the region", said the speaker, a moderate conservative.
After prayers, a procession was to leave Tehran University for the Behesht-e-Zahra cemetery, near the Khomeini mausoleum 13 kilometres (eight miles) south
of the Iranian capital.
The attacks, which struck two of the country's most symbolic landmarks, were carried out by five armed men, including suicide bombers who blew themselves
up.
- Attackers in new video -
The intelligence ministry said they were Iranians who had joined the Islamic State group and travelled to its strongholds in Iraq and Syria before returning
home.
Iran is a key fighting force against IS and other groups in Iraq and Syria, and the Sunni jihadists consider Shiite Muslims to be apostates.
Shiites make up roughly 90 percent of Iran's population, but the country also has a sizeable Sunni minority, particularly around its restive borders with
Iraq and Pakistan.
IS released a video overnight of the five attackers before the assault, via its Amaq propaganda agency.
"Allah permitting, this is the first brigade that was established (in Iran) but it will not be the last," one of them said, as the group sat masked in
a circle with their weapons.
The jihadist group had earlier released footage of the attackers from inside the building, also via Amaq - a rare claim of responsibility while an assault
was still going on.
Although the US military is also fighting IS in Syria, as well as Iraq, President Donald Trump said in response to the attacks in Iran that the country
is reaping what it sows.
That drew fire from Iran's foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, who tweeted: "Repugnant WH (White House) statement... as Iranians counter terror backed
by US clients."
Since Trump took office in January, relations between Washington and Tehran have worsened.
Washington has imposed new sanctions on Tehran for its alleged support of "terrorist" groups in the Middle East, ballistic missile tests and human rights
abuses.
On a recent trip to Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia, Trump called on all nations to "isolate" Iran.
The Islamic republic's elite Revolutionary Guard has accused regional rival Saudi Arabia of involvement in Wednesday's attacks.
But Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi said on Thursday that "we still cannot judge that Saudi Arabia has had a role in this terrorist incident".
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