US and Israel to Meet Over New Iranian Nuclear Intelligence
For the first time in more than a year, US and Israeli officials will reportedly meet on Thursday to discuss the state of Iran’s nuclear program, according to a report by Axios.
For the first time in more than a year, US and Israeli officials will reportedly meet on Thursday to discuss the state of Iran’s nuclear program, according to a report by Axios.
The reason for the meeting of the US-Israel strategic consultative group (SCG) could be to discuss whether Iran has begun active measures to develop nuclear weapons.
Apparently, Iran has obtained computer modeling that could be used for research and development of nuclear weapons, Axios quoted former and current US and Israeli officials as saying. However, there is no unanimous agreement on whether the new capability means Tehran has begun the final process to build weapons, or it does not represent a major shift.
Iran has accumulated enough enriched uranium to build at least three bombs if it decides to weaponize, and it has expelled most UN inspectors from the country. The International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, has admitted that it has lost its ability to monitor Iran’s nuclear activity. The agency’s board of governors censured Iran earlier this month for lack of cooperation, prompting a response that Tehran will accelerate uranium enrichment. Washington warned Tehran last week not to further accelerate its uranium enrichment. The US and its European allies to take Iran’s case to the UN Security Council for reinstating international sanctions.
One US and one Israeli official told Axios the new intelligence raised “suspicion” and “concern” about Iran’s intentions. According to one official, Israelis are nervous about their failure to predict the October 7 Hamas attack and scrutinize every information available about Iran’s nuclear activities.
The mass circulation German tabloid Bild on Sunday reported that it obtained “confidential files" of the Iranian atomic program.
The Bild wrote “As the documents show, representatives of the UN agency met with Javad Karimi-Sabet in Vienna in early 2022…. Karimi-Sabet has been on a US sanctions list since 2020 and is considered one of the masterminds in the development of the Iranian atomic bomb. According to internal emails, the IAEA paid Karimi at the meeting. Since a bank transfer was not possible due to the sanctions, the scientist was paid the money in cash.”
Karimi-Sabet is the vice chairman of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI).
The IAEA told the Bild that US sanctions are not applicable to its work and did not deny the payment.
“As part of the United Nations (UN) system, the IAEA follows the UN sanctions regulations and does not implement national sanctions regulations, “noted the IAEA.
When asked about the Bild story, which was headlined “Did the UN help the mullahs build the atomic bomb?, David Albright, one of the world’s leading experts on the Islamic Republic of Iran’s illicit nuclear program, told Iran International “I do not agree with the claim that the IAEA is contributing to Iran's nuclear weapons program. Nonetheless, there are many issues with the IAEA's technical support programs when it comes to states violating their safeguards agreements in fact or by intention. Today, Iran should not be benefiting from IAEA technical support programs.”
Albright, physicist and founder and president of the Institute for Science and International Security in Washington, D.C., added “The visit by Karimi is deeply troubling because of his role in establishing Iran's centrifuge program. See photo from our website from earlier days; In this picture from 2008, President Ahmadinejad holds a carbon fiber rotor tube; visible is also a bellows. Karimi is standing to the left of Ahmadinejad, who was touring Natanz. Karimi is likely still working on centrifuges, based on some of his recent publications. “
Albright added Karimi-Sabet “worked in other sensitive nuclear areas, not just on centrifuges.”
The Bild reported that the confidential documents revealed that the IAEA launched funding programs for Iranian nuclear science. The IAEA said, according to Bild’s information, that project “IRA2018001” was coordinated with the Iranians in 2019, with the aim of “Improving the skills and knowledge of scientists and improving the hardware and software infrastructure, which contribute to improving the operation and use of research reactors.”
The paper added “The IAEA also financed numerous training programs for scientists from Tehran in Russia…selected experts were sometimes under the wing of Putin's Rosatom for weeks - the state authority is also responsible for the civil and military use of nuclear energy.”
An IAEA spokesman confirmed the training to the Bild; "The IAEA's Technical Cooperation (TC) program supports member states in (...) development and management of nuclear knowledge." The IAEA added that it ensured that the Iranian participants did not obtain knowledge about nuclear weapons during the training.
Ukraine’s president has long suspected that the quid pro quo between Iran and Russia entailed Tehran receiving support for its atomic weapons program from Moscow in exchange for providing lethal drones to Russia in its illegal war to conquer the Ukraine.
Separately but related, in March, 2023 Fox News Digital reported that the clerical regime in Tehran allegedly secured secret deals with Russia to guarantee deliveries of uranium.
According to the Fox News article, Putin agreed to return enriched uranium that it received from Iran if a prospective nuclear deal collapses. According to the intelligence officials cited in the Fox report, the Iranians exploited the opportunity during Putin’s pressing need for drones and demanded a "nuclear guarantee" that would enable Iran "to quickly restore its uranium stock to the quantity and enrichment levels it had maintained before the resumption of the agreement."
In a televised roundtable on Saturday, June 15, Zakani said, "In 2015, I expressed my concerns about the JCPOA to the Supreme Leader. The Leader emphasized that officials should fulfill their duties regarding the JCPOA, which led me to draft an urgent parliamentary bill to clarify the dimensions of the agreement."
Zakani, who is a staunch hardliner, was speaking about relentless attacks by conservative loyalists of Ali Khamenei that started almost immediately after the JCPOA was signed and continued throughout the presidency of Hassan Rouhani until 2021.
Zakani, who has been sanctioned by Western countries for his role in suppressing protests in Iran, added, "After reading the JCPOA, I said I wouldn't sign such a contract with my own brother."
Under the pressure of UN Security Council sanctions, the Islamic Republic began secret talks with American officials sometime in 2013. These initial discussions eventually evolved into official multilateral nuclear negotiations, culminating in the signing of the JCPOA.
When the talks began, Khamenei famously referred to his decision as demonstrating “heroic flexibility,” indicating a willingness to reach an agreement with the West. It was clear at the time that he had authorized the negotiations, although his demeanor suggested reluctant approval.
Hardliners almost immediately began attacking the agreement, and it was clear to those in Iran that without Khamenei’s permission no one would dare to question such a strategic decision. Despite Khamenei’s own public blessing for the agreement, hardliners blamed Rouhani and his foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif for being pro-West and compromising Iran’s interests.
Zakani insisted that Khamenei did not endorse the JCPOA. "Some decided on behalf of the regime and claimed it was the regime's decision, but that was not the truth," he declared. In the political jargon of the Islamic Republic the word “regime” often means Ali Khamenei.
However, on Saturday, Fayyaz Zahed, candidate Masoud Pezeshkian's representative, said during a debate on the radio, "The JCPOA was the decision of the regime, not the Hassan Rouhani administration." But hardliners would not have any of that. Amirhossein Thabati, Saeed Jalili's representative, declared during the radio debate that "This agreement is a burden that Rouhani and Zarif imposed on the country, and now even a thousand wise men cannot lift it."
