Iran Expands Nuclear Program With More IR-6 Centrifuges

Speaking during an event in Switzerland’s Basel on Monday to mark 125 years since the First Zionist Congress, Cohen denounced the emerging nuclear accord between Iran and world powers, saying that Israel “will continue to do whatever needs to be done” to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear arms if a deal is signed.

“Without going into too many details, I can tell you the Mossad had many successes in the fight against Iran’s nuclear program,” he said, adding, “We operated around the world and on Iranian soil itself. In the very heartland of the ayatollahs.”

He mentioned as an example the 2018 operation to snatch a trove of Iranian documents -- including draft designs for a nuclear warhead -- which proved Tehran has lied about the military dimensions of its atomic program. "The Iranian regime is lying to the whole world, and we proved it when we brought thousands of documents from the Iranian archives, documents that proved that the Iranians lied to the International Atomic Energy Agency."

“We can never allow a regime that calls for our destruction to get its finger on the nuclear trigger,” Cohen warned.

Earlier in the day, Israeli President Isaac Herzog urged the IAEA to continue its probe of Iran, after President Ebrahim Raisi threatened Israel and said Tehran won’t return to the 2015 nuclear deal unless the UN watchdog stops its investigation into uranium traces found at unexplained sites. “The IAEA’s independence is critical. It should be strictly adhered to, including its ability to investigate violations of nuclear developments in Iran,” Herzog said in Bern at a press conference with Swiss President Ignazio Cassis.

The UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has been demanding proper explanations from Iran regarding uranium traces found at several sites used in its nuclear program before 2003. Reports in recent weeks have indicated that Tehran wants the closure of this probe before a deal is concluded to revive the 2015 nuclear deal, JCPOA.

Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi and Mohammad Eslami, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran speaking on Monday said that the IAEA probe must be closed before an agreement is reached to revive the JCPOA.

Eslami speaking during a provincial visit said that “The essence of the JCPOA negotiations is the dismissal of these charges and denying an excuse to the enemy that constantly” brings up the issue.

The United States and its European allies are not willing to reverse a resolution they spearheaded in June at the IAEA Board of Governors to demand answers from Iran.

Last week, Eslami doubled down on his demand after a senior US official told Reuters on August 22 that Iran had shelved its demand to end the probe. It is not clear to what degree the IAEA dispute would be detrimental to an agreement that seems to be far advanced.

The White House National Security Council Coordinator John Kirby on Sunday said, "We are certainly closer today than we were about two weeks ago thanks to Iran being willing to concede on a couple of major issues. But There are still gaps that remain between all sides.”

Meanwhile, the Israeli media on Sunday published what it said was the timeline of the JCPOA restoration as proposed by the European Union, which acts as a mediator between Iran and the United States.

The process envisages a 165-day period for the full restoration of the JCPOA, but before that, the US and Iran are supposed to reach a deal to free Western prisoners in exchange for freeing Iranian funds frozen because of US sanctions.

The 165-day period starts with Day Zero, when President Joe Biden would rescind three executive orders related to sanctions and other measures against Iran. This will open the way to first unfreeze $7 billion held by South Korean banks.

Iran would reduce its uranium enrichment from 60 percent to 20 percent and will hold on to the fissile material it already has.

The Biden Administration will send the deal to the US Congress within five days in the framework of the Iran Nuclear Review Act (INARA) of May 2015, which requires any deal lifting Iran sanctions to be reviewed by the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Short of formal treaty requiring Senate ratification, this is what the Biden Administration hopes to offer political cover for the deal, but its passage in the Senate is doubtful given the current 50-50 split in the chamber. If it does not pass Biden can use his presidential veto.

The Jerusalem Post in a report on Sunday wrote, “There is, however, still a chance of a majority opposing a deal, amid growing concerns in Washington that Russia will use Iran as a conduit to avoid sanctions.”

Sixty days after Day Zero, the UN Security Council will be notified of JCPOA restoration, and the US would grant a one-time permission to Iran to export 50 million barrels of oil it has stored.

This information confirms with what was leaked in Tehran that Iran International reported on August 19.

By this time Iran would stop enriching above 5 percent, and “would have to fulfil its commitments to the IAEA regarding its ongoing investigation” into uranium traces found at undeclared sites.

Therefore, Iran’s insistence that the IAEA probe should be dropped shows there is still no final agreement on this issue.

Calling the EU’s text of August 8, currently being discussed between the United States and Iran a “bad agreement,” Lapid claimed it had departed from what US President Joe Biden July had told Israel to anticipate.

The Israeli government, presumably after seeing the EU text, was then perturbed. “We told the Americans: ‘This is not what President Biden wanted.’ This is not what he talks about during his visit to the country,” Lapid said.

The Israeli prime minister claimed only last week that Israel had pushed the US into a harder negotiating position over reviving the 2015 agreement, the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action), which successive Israeli governments have opposed.

But Lapid, four months away from an Israeli election, suggested Sunday that Israel had been unable to “introduce amendments to the agreement” because of a speech made to Congress in March 2015 by former prime minister and political rival Benjamin Netanyahu. While Netanyahu had compared the US and Israel as “promised lands,” US officials slammed as a cheap election ploy his claim that theJCPOA, which came into play July 2015, would ‘guarantee’ Iran a nuclear weapon.

Lapid said the aim of the coalition government that replaced Netanyahu’s administration in 2021, with Lapid as prime minister since July 2022, had been to “fight against the agreement with all our might, but without harming our strategic relations with the US, and without harming their attention to our arguments."

Arguments in Israel may intensify as talks to revive the JCPOA have reached what Joseph Borrell, the EU foreign policy chief, called the “the crucial moment” in an interview published Sunday with Kronen Zeitung, the leading Austrian newspaper. “I’m optimistic, it’s the last millimeters,” Borrell said. “This [restoring the 2015 agreement] makes the world a little safer.”

Nasser Kanaani, spokesman for the Iranian foreign minister, told the official news agency IRNA Sunday that the latest US input, relayed by the EU August 24, was being reviewed technically and that Tehran would reply “as soon as the summary is formed and the details are checked.” Nour News tweeted this would take until “at least” the end of the week, presumably meaning Friday September 2.

Official news agency dismisses ‘false’ report

Kanaani called for all to respect the confidentiality of talks, which were on a “positive and forward trend” despite a “few remaining issues” that were “sensitive, important and decisive.” IRNA separately quoted an “informed source” criticizing the newspaper Jomhuriyeh Eslami for Sunday’s article claiming Tehran had in the talks demanded that Washington compel “western” companies to trade with Iran.

The newspaper’s story was “totally false,” the source told IRNA, suggesting that Iranian media relaying “wrong claims” from foreign media designed to “put pressure on Iran” were in effect becoming a “base for the enemy.”

Qatar has also continued mediation efforts. Mohammed bin Abdulaziz bin Saleh Al-Khulaifi, an assistant foreign minister, met Saturday with Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani. The Qatari foreign ministry said he had stressed “the importance of advancing further in order to revive the nuclear agreement which is in the interest of the security and stability of the region.” Following discussions with Bagheri Kani, Khulaifi spoke by phone with Enrique Mora, the EU official who has coordinated the nuclear talks.

Axios correspondent Barak Ravid quoted a senior Israeli official as saying on Sunday that David Barnea will attend closed door classified meetings of House and Senate intelligence committees.

In remarks that were not coordinated with Prime Minister Yair Lapid, the spymaster described the emerging agreement "a strategic disaster" for Israel and the United States “is rushing into an accord that is ultimately based on lies,” referring to Iran’s claim that its nuclear activities are peaceful in nature.

Shortly after Barnea’s comments were published, Lapid called the Mossad chief, telling him he had gone off script in his criticism of the US and asking for a clarification.

Barnea’s visit is the latest effort by Israel to sway Western powers from returning to the landmark accord. 

Earlier in the day, Lapid said that Israel's “diplomatic fight” against the deal included its National Security Adviser Eyal Hulata and Defense Minister Benny Gantz holding recent meetings in the US.

“We are making a concerted effort to ensure the Americans and Europeans understand the dangers involved in this agreement,” Lapid said, reiterating that what was signed in 2015 was “not a good deal,” and that the one currently being discussed entails “greater dangers.”

Lapid and US President Joe Biden are likely to meet in September, Israel’s Kan news reported on Saturday, citing unnamed officials. 

Iran is currently reviewing the US response to its position earlier sent to the European Union, which acts as a mediator between the two sides.

The conservative government-controlled Jomhuriyeh Eslami (Islamic Republic) newspaper on Sunday published parts of the US response to Iran’s demands that were sent through the European Union mediators. The newspaper said that the text was published on “media”, which means it might have been leaked on social media, and there is no certainty if indeed it reflects the contents of the secret US response.

According to Jomhuriyeh Eslami, the US appears to have rejected three demands deemed important by Iran.

The newspaper adds that if indeed the leaked text reflects the American response, then 16 months of nuclear talks have again hit a snag and there won’t be a signing ceremony soon.

One Iranian demand related to guarantees it has been seeking was accepted, and that is submitting the new deal to the US Congress for approval. But this vague alleged promise by the Biden Administration does not say if the agreement will be submitted to the Senate or to both houses of Congress. It also does not say in what legal format the issue will be put to vote.

If it is true that there will be a vote in Congress, what if the agreement fails to pass in the Senate where Republicans can garner a majority on this issue. Even if the agreement is presented for a non-binding vote and it fails, the purpose of giving a guarantee to Iran will be defeated.

The Biden Administration has rejected an Iranian demand for the US to guarantee that Western companies will do business with Iran. The alleged American response has said that the US will permit all companies, except those under sanctions, to deal with Iran, but it cannot force private companies to interact with the Islamic Republic.

Iranian negotiators are well aware that a Western government cannot force private firms to do business with a country if they do not want to, and one can assume that this demand is probably made to be rejected, so Tehran can ask for something else.

The second Iranian demand rejected by the Biden Administration is about the US issuing insurance for multinational companies that would do business with Iran after the agreement. Iran demanded that if the United States withdraws form the nuclear deal again, these corporations be compensated. Washington has responded that this is beyond the powers of the President, and Biden can only give his official assurances as long as he remains the President and not beyond it.

The third Iranian demand allegedly rejected is related to SWIFT, the international banking transfers system. Iran has lost the privilege of using the mechanism since 2018 when the US withdrew from the JCPOA and imposed sanctions. This makes trade and investments extremely difficult.

The US in its response has said that Washington cannot guarantee Iran’s return to the SWIFT, because it has not accepted financial reforms demanded by the Financial Actions Task Force (FATF), an international watchdog based in Paris that requires financial transparency from countries, anti-corruption measures and laws to prohibit financing of terrorism.

Iran has dragged its feet since 2017 to approve the measures demanded by the FATF and is blacklisted along with North Korea.

The revelations that the US has rejected three Iranian demands has cast a shadow over hopes in Tehran of a quick agreement. The Iranian currency that had initially risen 15 percent against the US dollar has again retreated.