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Tehran's Mounting Violations of the Iran Deal and Its Accelerating March to A Nuclear Weapons Arsenal
(JCPA) Amb. Dore Gold - Since the start of nuclear negotiations between Iran and the West, Tehran has managed to create an impression that it has kept to the terms of the various agreements that were reached, and it was the West and, above all, the United States which violated past agreements. It is Iran that has violated past agreements with the West. The most glaring issue has been Tehran's refusal to provide an answer to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) about uranium particles that were discovered at three undeclared sites in Iran. In the American tradition, a disarmament negotiation with former adversaries is legitimate if it is based on a credible inspection system. It was President Ronald Reagan who quoted the famous Russian proverb, "Trust but verify." It is here that the Iranians were repeatedly caught red-handed. Looking back, Iran proved consistently that it had been a totally unreliable partner for the West. In November 2004, the IAEA determined Iran had been in breach of its Safeguards Agreement when it declared that many Iranian activities in the areas of uranium enrichment, uranium conversion, and plutonium separation were not declared to the agency. The Iranians even razed buildings to hide evidence, like at the Lavizan - Shian complex.