(Foundation for Defense of Democracies) Andrea Stricker - National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on March 22 that President Joe Biden seeks to put Iran's atomic program "back in the box." However, the reported provisions of the deal that Biden's team is negotiating in Vienna would hardly box in Tehran's rapidly advancing nuclear program. Under the original deal, Iran never had to submit to intrusive inspections of sensitive military sites. While the Obama administration said the original JCPOA increased Iran's breakout time to 12 months, Israel reportedly estimates that Tehran's breakout time under a new deal would initially reach just four to six months and would then drop almost to zero over the duration of the updated deal. The new deal's insufficient breakout time reflects the reported decision to permit the regime to keep in storage more than 2,000 advanced centrifuges that can quickly enrich uranium to weapons-grade purity. Moreover, Iran's inventory of advanced centrifuges will only continue to grow since Iran is allowed to manufacture up to 400 additional advanced centrifuges per year starting in 2024. The writer is a research fellow at the FDD.
2022-04-07 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive