Iran Nuclear Program In Focus As US, Allies Search For Options

In a phone conversation with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres Thursday night, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian warned of the “negative consequences” of the UNHRC’s “political measure” on cooperation between the Islamic Republic and the West, referring to calls for a special meeting over the deadly clampdown on the current protests across Iran. 

Alleging that the Islamic Republic has "deeply exercised restraint" in the ongoing unrest – which has left over 300 protesters dead and about 15,000 detained, he told the UN chief that such a meeting should be held for countries that "promote violence and terror."

“The UN Human Rights Council should hold sessions for governments that are encouraging violence and terror, not for the Islamic Republic of Iran which is a true defender of human rights and has exercised great restraint during recent riots,” he said. 

Amir-Abdollahian added that “Contrary to the UN Charter, a few Western countries exploited the peaceful demands in Iran and encouraged violence and offered tutorials on building weapons and Molotov cocktails on media and social networks which led to the killing of police and insecurity in Iran.”

Iranian officials have been accusing “enemies” of fomenting protests, but so far have not presented any evidence.

He also claimed that “technical” negotiations between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) are at “appropriate” levels, despite remarks by the head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog. Rafael Mariano Grossi said Wednesday Iran did not offer anything new during a recent meeting in Vienna to resolve major differences.

Salami made the remarks during a ceremony to commemorate the 11th death anniversary of Hassan Tehrani Moqaddam, one of Iran’s earliest missile architects, who was killed when a huge explosion rocked a missile base 30 miles from Tehran in November 2012.

Moghaddam was among 17 top IRGC officers killed that day, in what many believed was an operation by Israeli intelligence. The incident was so shocking that even Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei attended the funeral at the time.

Salami said that "the enemies" are sending regular messages to Iran, pleading not to be targeted by a military response, without specifying which enemies. “Now it is a number of days that enemies do not have peace and are on alert. 

Since popular protests began in Iran, the clerical regime has threatened Western countries and Saudi Arabia, claiming they are behind the unrest. The IRGC commander added, “Those sitting in glass houses in Riyadh, Tel Aviv, New York, and Paris are designers of riots.”

Salami added that “we targeted the anti-revolution [groups] in the Iraqi Kurdistan region, held a major military drill along Aras River, launched a satellite-carrying rocket, tested Bavar 373 missile system with a range of 300km, and we announced yesterday that we have developed a new missile that no missile defense system is able to confront it.”

“Enemies should know that if they targeted one of us, we will target all of them,” referring to the killing of IRGC’s Quds (Qods) commander Qasem Soleimani. “You targeted our Qasem but we will target all of you and expel you from the region,” he maintained. 

Hannah Neumann said during a parliament session on Thursday said that people of Iran are being brutally suppressed by their own regime “and it is not accepted by us.”

“Protesters are beaten-up, raped and killed in the streets and in prisons, not by criminals but by those who claim to be the government of this wonderful country,” she added.

Speaking during a session she went on to say that out of the 290 members of the Iranian parliament 227 called on the country’s judiciary to severely punish protesters and political prisoners, including with issuing death sentences.

Neumann called on her colleagues in the European Union to send a very strong signal that such moves are not accepted.

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She also urged them to impose targeted sanctions against these 227 Iranian lawmakers.

Neumann stated that the EU is right now preparing a sanctions package to be issued by the Foreign Affairs Council next Monday, but “this package has only 31 individuals,” so a debate must be held to include all these Iranian parliamentarians.

A group of 227 parliament members in Iran called on the Judiciary Sunday to issue death sentences for people arrested during the ongoing antigovernment protests.

In a statement that was read out in the Iranian parliament on Sunday, the lawmakers called the protesters ‘Mohareb’ -- which literally means warrior in Arabic, but in Islamic law or sharia it means ‘enemy of God’ that carries the death penalty.

Speaking on the sidelines of the United Nations COP27 climate gathering in Egypt, Grossi referred to Tehran’s claim earlier Thursday that it had developed a hypersonic missile, which could travel at over five times the speed of sound.

“We see that all these announcements increase the attention, increase the concerns, increase the public attention to the Iranian nuclear program,” Grossi, the IAEA director-general told the AFP news agency.

Under the terms of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, which the United States left in 2018 imposing stringent sanctions, Iran was prohibited from developing missiles designed to carry nuclear warheads. But concerns over Iran’s general missile capacity, an option attractive partly due to Iran’s lack of an effective air-force, has increased with the expansion of the nuclear program since 2019.

With talks to revive the 2015 agreement, the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) apparently suspended since the summer, two IAEA reports to member states Thursday highlighted Tehran’s continued nuclear progress.

While Iran’s stocks of all enriched uranium had gone down in three months by 267kg to 3,674kg – still way above the JCPOA limit of 267kg – the uranium stock enriched to 60 percent, close to the 90 percent considered ‘weapons grade,’ rose by nearly 6.7kg to 62.3kg. Experts say Iran, with further enrichment, has enough material for a bomb, a step it says it has no intention of taking.

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A second IAEA report said agency inspectors would visit Iran during November to discuss uranium traces found at Iranian sites linked to nuclear work carried out before 2003. The report said the agency expected “to start receiving …technically credible explanations…including access to locations and material…”

Iran has since February 2021 reduced the IAEA’s access to that required under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, citing the killing of a scientists and attacks on its atomic facilities widely attributed to Israel. The agency’s first report Thursday noted that reduced access was having a “significant impact” on the IAEA’s verification work and that “the longer the current situation persists, the greater such uncertainty becomes.”

‘Stabilize the current crisis’

Iranian leaders have demanded the IAEA drop its probe into the uranium traces before the JCPOA can be restored. Next week sees the quarterly meeting of the IAEA board. In June the 35-member board passed a resolution, against Russian and Chinese wishes, censuring Iran over what the agency has called a lack of cooperation in explaining the uranium traces.

There was optimist about a new deal in August when the European Union presented a compromise draft document. Iran responded to the proposal with demands that the US found beyond the JCPOA and talks entered an impasse, Since then Russia has begun using Iranian-made drones against Ukraine, further souring the mood in the West.

Warning Wednesday of a need to “stabilize the current crisis before it is too late,” the Washington-based Arms Control Association called for “reciprocal, confidence-building steps, ”by the US and Iran “to prevent further escalation, reduce the risk of proliferation, and decrease the chances of miscalculation.” The association suggested that enhanced monitoring “would be an ideal starting point.”

Hossein Mousavian, former Iranian nuclear negotiator and security official, in a piece for Middle East Eye published Tuesday, called for renewed efforts to salvage the JCPOA and said that a US or Israeli military attack could push Iran into developing a nuclear weapon..

In a statement on Thursday, Wong said the Australian government has been “alarmed” by reports that hundreds of people have been killed and many more injured, including dozens of children, as a result of the “heavy-handed” measures Iranian authorities have implemented to crack down on ongoing protests.

She added that Australia supports the right of the Iranian people to protest peacefully and “calls on Iranian authorities to exercise restraint in response to ongoing demonstrations.”

“Iran's human rights record has been a longstanding and serious concern for Australia, and we have repeatedly raised our concerns with Iran in Canberra, Tehran, and multilateral forums,” she went on to say.

She also reiterated that Australia joined Canada and New Zealand in expressing grave concerns about the situation in Iran to the United Nations Security Council, including Iran's position on the UN Commission on the Status of Women.

“Australia stands with Iranian women and girls in their struggle for equality and empowerment, and we will continue to call on Iran to cease its oppression of women. We are committed to promoting gender equality, women's empowerment, and ending violence against women and girls worldwide,” reads her statement.

Earlier, Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese condemned the crackdown by Iranian authorities and urged the Islamic Republic to respect the rights of protesters.