US Sanctions Iran Nuclear Researchers, Warns of Future Work

The United States on Friday imposed sanctions on Iranian nuclear researchers, saying it wanted to warn young scientists to steer clear of any future effort to build a bomb.

Sanctioning 14 individuals and 17 entities, US officials acknowledged that the nuclear work was in the past but said Washington wanted to make the targeted figures "radioactive."

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Twitter called the sanctions part of the "maximum pressure campaign" on Iran as the United States tries to roll back the clerical regime's regional influence.

"We'll be relentless in denying Iran the ability to engage in WMD proliferation and all its outlaw activities," said Pompeo, who is on a Middle East tour to build a united front against Iran.

President Donald Trump last year pulled out of an international accord negotiated under his predecessor Barack Obama, under which Iran drastically scaled back its nuclear program, and instead imposed sweeping sanctions.

But European nations still back the accord and the International Atomic Energy Agency has repeatedly said that Iran remains in compliance.

But the US Treasury Department said it was alarmed over the continued existence of the Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research, whose Farsi acronym is SPND, saying that it could get back to work—including after some prohibitions under the nuclear deal start running out in 2025.

A senior US official, speaking to reporters on condition of anonymity, said that the United States wanted to "continue to stigmatize SPND and the reconstitution program-in-waiting that it represents."

The sanctions aim to "make it as unattractive as possible to be a part of that organization, make it hard to recruit the next generation of illicit nuclear weapons scientists and to make it all more clear that this is an option that is not and cannot be allowed to be made available to Iran," he said.

The sanctioned individuals include people who work with the Shahid Karimi Group, which the Treasury Department said focused on missile and explosives projects for SPND, and the Shahid Chamran Group, which researches electromagnetics and wave generation.

The US official said that the SPND was still in place and headed by Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, a physicist identified by US and Israeli intelligence as the aspiring father of Iran's nuclear bomb.

"It's as if some evil version of Robert Oppenheimer had been kept in charge of keeping the Manhattan Project crew together years afterward," the official said, referring to the founder of the US nuclear program in World War II.

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Before Saudis Go Nuclear, They May Have to Follow Iran's Lead

International monitors reminded Saudi Arabia this week that it still has work to do before delving deeper into an ambitious nuclear program that could transform how the kingdom generates its energy.

Focus on Saudi Arabia’s nuclear program has risen in the last month after the U.S. Congress opened an investigation into the potentially illegal transfer of sensitive technologies to the kingdom. This week the International Atomic Energy Agency, responsible for verifying that countries don’t divert material for weapons, weighed in on what its inspectors need before the kingdom can start generating nuclear power.

Riyadh’s nuclear program is developing “based on an old text” of safeguard rules, even as it expects to complete its first research reactor this year and plans to tap uranium reserves, according to IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano, who told journalists this week in Vienna that he’s “appealing to all countries to rescind” those old ways of doing business.

“We’re encouraging all countries to conclude and implement an additional protocol and that includes Saudi Arabia,” said Amano, who’s also in charge of enforcing the 2015 nuclear deal struck between Iran and world powers. The Japanese career diplomat has called the set of rules established by that accord, which U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from in May, as “the most rigorous monitoring mechanism ever negotiated.”

Rising power consumption and desalination costs are pushing Saudi Arabia to look at nuclear energy. The world’s top crude exporter currently burns oil to generate most of its power and provide drinking water. Pivoting toward nuclear would reduce greenhouse gas emissions and free up more crude to sell on world markets.

But the IAEA comments could strike a precautionary note among vendors lining up to service the kingdom’s nuclear ambitions. Receiving the imprimatur of IAEA inspectors, who account for gram-level quantities of nuclear material worldwide, is a precondition for receiving technologies and fuel. Without reaching a new understanding with monitors, Saudi plans for 3.2 gigawatts of atomic power by the end next decade could flounder.

Saudi Arabia didn’t respond to emails and phone calls placed to its IAEA mission in the Austrian capital.

In order to get its nuclear program on track, Saudi Arabia may need to look at the allowances made by its regional rivals in Iran, according to Robert Kelley, a U.S. nuclear engineer and former IAEA director.

The Iran deal “is unprecedented in terms of previous monitoring regimes,” according to Kelley, who worked in the Department of Energy’s nuclear-weapons complex before overseeing inspections in countries including Libya, South Africa and Iraq.

Maintaining that level of IAEA access to Iran’s nuclear program is the reason that China, France, Germany, Russia and the U.K. continue to defy U.S. calls to abandon the 2015 deal and reimpose sanctions. Diplomats from those countries convened Wednesday in Vienna in their first meeting since the European Union established a trade channel to skirt U.S. threats.

For Saudi Arabia, which threatened a year ago to develop nuclear weapons if Iran did, aligning its atomic rule book with current best practices may be the best option for it to accelerate its nuclear program.

“It has a ridiculously weak agreement right now,” Kelley said. “The additional protocol is the gold standard and has some teeth to it. Getting that in place should be straightforward.”

Photo Credit: Bloomberg

Germany's Merkel Says Existing Iran Deal 'Not Sufficient' to Curb Iran Ambitions

AFP Correction: Headline corrected to remove reference to 'nuclear program' to better reflect original German speech. 

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, standing alongside President Donald Trump at the White House, said Friday that the existing international accord on Iran is not enough to curb the Islamic republic's regional ambitions. 

The so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, signed by Tehran and six world powers including Germany and the United States, is "a first step that has contributed to slowing down their activities in this particular respect," Merkel told reporters.

"But we also think from a German perspective that this is not sufficient in order to see to it that Iran's ambitions are curbed and contained." 

"Europe and the United States ought to be in lock step on this," she said.

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Iran's Rouhani Says US 'Will Regret It' If It Violates Nuke Deal

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Monday that the United States would regret withdrawing from the nuclear deal, and that Iran would respond in "less than a week" if that happened.

"We will not be the first to violate the accord but they should definitely know that they will regret it if they violate it," Rouhani told a conference to mark National Nuclear Technology Day in Tehran.

"We are much more prepared than they think, and they will see that if they violate this accord, within a week, less than a week, they will see the result."

US President Donald Trump has threatened to walk away from the nuclear deal and reimpose sanctions by May 12 unless tough new restrictions are imposed on Iran's nuclear and missile programs.

Rouhani dismissed the threat, saying: "It's been 15 months since this gentleman who came to power in America has been making claims and there have been many ups and downs in his remarks and his behavior.

"(But) the foundations of the JCPOA (nuclear deal) have been so strong that during these 15 months of pressure... the structure has remained solid."

The other partners to the agreement—Britain, France, Germany, China, Russia and the EU—all agree that Iran has stuck by its commitments, as does the International Atomic Energy Association which is tasked with inspecting Iran's compliance.

"Even if one day (the US) can harm the JCPOA, we will be the winner in the public opinion of the world as the nation that stuck by its commitments," Rouhani said.

"If they withdraw, it would mean that they are not committed to their words."

Rouhani said the country's military and diplomatic powers were not aimed at intimidating its neighbours—an apparent riposte to claims by Saudi Arabia that it is seeking to dominate the Middle East.

"Our path is clear. We are not thinking of threatening anyone. Our powers, even our military power is not for aggression against any country. Our relations with our neighbors will be friendly relations," Rouhani said.

He also took aim at his hardline opponents on the domestic front, who have criticized his efforts to reach out to the West.

"We need hard power. We need soft power... Some only look at one side of the coin," he said.

Photo Credit: IRNA