Iran never dismantled nuke site?

Washington Free Beacon:
Iran never ended critical nuclear weapons work at a controversial underground military bunker that remains operational to this day and able to "enrich uranium to weapons grade" levels. That is according to a new watchdog report that has reignited calls for the Trump administration to close loopholes that have permitted the Islamic Republic to continue its most contested nuclear research.

The new report, issued by the Institute for Science and International Security, confirms suspicions long held by the international community that Iran never dismantled its Fordow research site, as it was required to do under the landmark 2015 nuclear deal. The findings have further fueled concerns about Iran's march towards nuclear weapons, particularly in light of the country's recent threats to enrich uranium, the key component in a bomb, to levels approaching 20 percent purity.

The latest evidence of Iran's continued weapons research has reignited a battle between congressional Iran hawks and the Trump administration, which continues to provide Tehran with a series of sanctions waivers permitting it to continue work at Fordow. Hardliners in Congress have called for an immediate end to these waivers in light of Iran's efforts to blow past restrictions on the amount of highly enriched uranium it stockpiles inside the country.

"The Fordow uranium enrichment facility has never been repurposed, as promised in the JCPOA," the acronym used to refer to the nuclear deal, according to the latest watchdog report. "Everything required to enrich uranium to weapons grade could be quickly reconstituted in the underground portion of the facility."

"Fordow is potentially part of Iran's current threats to progressively go to higher enrichment levels and increase its stocks of enriched uranium, and if conducted there, Fordow's underground tunnel complex is fortified to withstand aerial bombardment," the report states. "Fordow now includes semi-indigenous nuclear equipment production and potentially illicit procurement at the newly expanded support area, the former which was not likely intended by the JCPOA, and the latter which is prohibited."

Secret documents seized from Iran by Israel corroborate evidence that Tehran sought, from at least 2002, to produce weapon-grade uranium to create one to two nuclear weapons per year.

"There is no doubt it could be reconstituted to fulfill that purpose," the report concluded.
...
If true, it is more evidence of what a scam Iran pulled on those who pushed Obama's bad deal.  Of course, Obama and his team had their own scam in pushing the deal with their echo chamber.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Should Republicans go ahead and add Supreme Court Justices to head off Democrats

29 % of companies say they are unlikely to keep insurance after Obamacare

Bin Laden's concern about Zarqawi's remains