Iran’s foreign minister threatened that the country will expand its nuclear program if the United States doesn’t take a “new approach” toward the Iranian nuclear program.
Javad Zarif released a speech over Twitter on Wednesday, marking the 42nd anniversary of the 1979 Iranian revolution. In it, he railed against U.S. sanctions targeting Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s regime and menaced further expansion of its nuclear program, which is already feared to be close to the point of producing viable weapons.
“Donald Trump betted on the myth that Iran is a nation that can be forced to choose between collapse and submission,” Zarif said in reference to former President Donald Trump’s pressure campaign designed to sanction the country into nuclear submission. “We have all seen the outcome of that bet.”
On Sunday, Iran announced it will come back into compliance with the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, known as the nuclear deal, if the U.S. ends all sanctions against the regime. President Biden pushed back on that notion during an interview taped last Friday.
The U.S. messaging has been that Iran must first come back into nuclear compliance prior to the prospect of a rebrokered treaty. Last month, Iran announced plans to begin enriching uranium to 20%, far above the 3.67% limit set forward in the deal. Secretary of State Antony Blinken recently warned that Iran could be just “weeks away” from developing a nuclear weapon.
Iran frequently tries to inject urgency into nuclear negotiations by saying the timetable for negotiations is finite. As recently as last month, Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations warned the “window is closing” for a return to nuclear deal compliance. Iran previously announced a Feb. 21 deadline for U.S. sanctions implemented under Trump to be lifted, although it is unclear exactly what will happen should that date pass without a change.
Zarif said Trump was the seventh consecutive U.S. president “who has made and lost the exact same wager,” in reference to pressure from sanctions.
With the Biden administration, he said there “is an opportunity to try a new approach, but the current window is fleeting.”
“Soon my government will be compelled to take further remedial action in response to the American and European dismal failure to live up to their commitment under the nuclear deal,” Zarif said, adding that the “remedial action” entails “an enhancement” of Iran’s nuclear program and reduced cooperation with inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Iranian Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi further upped the stakes this week when he threatened that the country might produce nuclear weapons if sanctions are not lifted.
“Our nuclear program is peaceful, and the fatwa by the supreme leader has forbidden nuclear weapons, but if they push Iran into that direction, then it wouldn’t be Iran’s fault but theirs,” Alavi said.
Additionally, an Iranian diplomat was recently convicted in a Belgian court of attempting to carry out a terrorist attack in France against a group of Iranian dissidents. That conviction has led to more calls for accountability from Iran and has the potential to also complicate negotiations.
A State Department spokesperson reiterated Biden’s position on nuclear negotiations when contacted on Wednesday by the Washington Examiner.
“The United States is ready to walk the path of diplomacy if Iran takes steps to show it is ready too,” the spokesperson said. “As President Biden has said, if Iran comes back into strict compliance with the JCPOA, the United States is prepared to do the same.”
