In a recent speech, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz made the claim that Iran has now accumulated enough enriched uranium to build its first nuclear weapon.
Speaking at the Institute of Policy and Strategy at Reichman University, Gantz lamented the situation, which was made possible by the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.
“It stands just a few weeks away from accumulating fissile material that will be sufficient for a first bomb, holds 60 kg of enriched material at 60%, produces metallic uranium at the enrichment level of 20%, and prevents the [International Atomic Energy Agency] from accessing its facilities,” Gantz said.
The Iran nuclear deal was negotiated by Barack Obama and Joe Biden during the former’s Oval Office occupation. But Gantz says Iran ended up accumulating 18 times more enriched uranium than that deal allowed.
According to Gantz, Iran is also attempting to “complete the production and installation of 1,000 advanced IR6 centrifuges at its nuclear facilities,” as well as build a new underground laboratory near its Natanz Enrichment Complex.
Iran has repeatedly claimed that it never had any intention of building nuclear weapons with enriched uranium. But according to the IAEA, that is exactly what Iran is now doing, and with 18 times more enriched uranium than was supposed to be allowed.
Former security director says “Obama left a more dangerous world”
As part of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Obama lifted economic sanctions that for decades had crippled Iran financially. He also unfroze $150 billion in assets while giving the country $400 million in cash.
When Donald Trump, Obama’s successor, took office, he almost immediately pulled the United States out of the JCPOA, calling the deal dangerous and stupid, and “the single worst deal ever”.
“It’s a disgrace that a deal like that was even signed,” Trump told the New York Post in May of 2017. “It made Iran a power from a country that was ready to fall apart.”
“Iran won’t honor its deal,” Trump added. “Instead of saying, ‘Thank you very much for saving our country,’ they’ve been emboldened.”
If the new claims by Gantz are true, then Iran has been lying for years about its true intentions for the uranium. Instead of using it for innocuous purposes, the country has instead, apparently, been building nuclear weapons.
Around the same time Trump made those comments to the Post, then-Pentagon adviser Michael Rubin told The Washington Free Beacon that Iran essentially played the U.S. for fools under Obama.
Iran did much the same thing with the Iran nuclear deal that it did between 1998 and 2005 by profiting from a nuclear trade deal that it established with the European Union.
“Obama and [former Secretary of State John] Kerry might as well have wired the money directly into the accounts of those seeking to enhance Iran’s military, kill Sunnis, or sponsor terrorism,” Rubin said.
Another Pentagon insider agreed, telling the Beacon this:
“An Iranian military buildup coupled with an offensive posture is a threat to the United States and our allies. This also serves as an important reminder of why the cash infusion to Iran under the Obama-Biden administration was so dangerous.”
Barry Pavel, the former senior director of the National Security Council from 2008 to 2010, told Fox News that same year that “Obama left a more dangerous world,” which is true in so many ways, as we can all now see.
“Iran never stopped cheating,” alleged former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley in a recent tweet.
“And, they already have enough uranium to produce a nuclear bomb. When will Biden stop falling all over himself to get into a new Iran deal.”
More related news about the situation can be found in NuclearWeapons.news.
