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Iran is reportedly “six months away” from having enough fissile material to build a nuclear missile by the end of 2020.
This was reported by unnamed US officials cited by Israeli media.
#BREAKING: US believes Iran may have enough fissile material for a nuclear bomb by end of the year, US official says
— Amichai Stein (@AmichaiStein1) September 20, 2020
Furthermore, US President Donald Trump is supposedly to sign an executive order on September 21st that would sanction any non-US actors who trade conventional arms with Iran.
EXCLUSIVE – TRUMP TO ISSUE EXECUTIVE ORDER ON MONDAY ALLOWING U.S. TO SANCTION NON-U.S. ACTORS WHO TRADE CONVENTIONAL ARMS WITH IRAN – U.S. OFFICIAL CONFIRMS
— *Walter Bloomberg (@DeItaOne) September 20, 2020
This basically means that the only party that could sell weapons to Iran would be the US itself, if such an order were to be signed.
Regardless, returning to the nuclear weapon news, it is a very frequent report with both US and Israeli officials claiming that Tehran building a nuclear missile is 6 months away for the last 8 years, since 2012.
Haven't we heard this many times before…It's always just 6 months away…for like 20 years. I literally heard this from an intelligence assessment six months ago…and of of course back in 2012…https://t.co/n0wqxoIiEg
— Seth Frantzman (@sfrantzman) September 20, 2020
One of the previous claims that Iran was just months away from a nuclear weapon being finalized also included Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu showing a little graphic of a bomb that appears to be out of Looney Tunes.
ok…been here b4 pic.twitter.com/rGugs9ZMtx
— Mark Duckett (@MarkRDuckett) September 20, 2020
These claims come just one day after on September 19th, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made the entirely false statement that all UN sanctions on Iran had been restored because it failed to adhere to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA, Iran Nuclear Deal).
Pompeo announced the re-implementation of “virtually all previously terminated UN sanctions on the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
“The United States took this decisive action because, in addition to Iran’s failure to perform its JCPOA commitments, the Security Council failed to extend the UN arms embargo on Iran, which had been in place for 13 years,” Pompeo’s statement claimed.
The UN, however, said that no sanctions had been restored.
But the Trump Administration is also prepared for this contingency – sanction any UN member state that doesn’t wish to support the reimposition of sanctions.
US President Donald Trump promised to “impose consequences” on any UN member state that does not comply with the sanctions, even though it is one of the only countries in the world which believes they are in force.
“If UN member states fail to fulfil their obligations to implement these sanctions, the United States is prepared to use our domestic authorities to impose consequences for those failures and ensure that Iran does not reap the benefits of UN-prohibited activity,” Pompeo stated.
“The Security Council’s inaction would have paved the way for Iran to buy all manner of conventional weapons on Oct. 18. Fortunately for the world, the United States took responsible action to stop this from happening. In accordance with our rights under UNSCR 2231, we initiated the snapback process to restore virtually all previously terminated UN sanctions, including the arms embargo. The world will be safer as a result,” it continued
He promised that measures would be announced in coming days against “violators”.
Washington is almost alone on the issue: China, Russia and also the US’s own European allies have challenged the claim.
“Any decision or action taken with a view to re-installing [the sanctions] would be incapable of legal effect,” France, Britain and Germany said in a joint letter sent September 19th to the Security Council.
Iran responded on September 21st, with President Hassan Rouhani warning that a “crushing response” is coming.
Underscoring America’s extreme isolation related to the UN arms embargo, which last month the UN Security Council refused to extend even amid a full US push to force the issue, Rouhani said Washington is facing “certain defeat”.
“America is approaching a certain defeat in its sanctions move … It faced defeat and negative response from the international community. We will never yield to US pressure and Iran will give a crushing response to America’s bullying,” Rouhani said in a televised address according to Reuters. He added:
“America’s maximum pressure against Iran, in its political and legal aspects, has turned into America’s maximum isolation.”
US seems to be persistent in undermining intl law by imposing its selfish will on the others. Is it the “rules based intl order” where rules are set by limited club of nations that our American colleagues have been ardently defending recently? #snapback #Iran
— Dmitry Polyanskiy (@Dpol_un) September 20, 2020
Notorious anti-Iran hawk and convicted War Criminal, Elliott Abrams, who is also the U.S. special envoy for Iran, told reporters the U.S. expects “all U.N. member states to implement their member state responsibilities and respect their obligations to uphold these sanctions.”
Abrams added: “If other nations do not follow it, I think they should be asked … whether they do not think they are weakening the structure of U.N. sanctions.”
With elections incoming on November 2nd in the US, the Trump administration is attempting to rapidly push in various directions including getting recognition from Israel from Serbia and Kosovo, signing of normalization deals between Israel and other Middle East states and antagonizing Iran, China and Russa further to show that it is in a strong position, and it should be re-elected.
As such, similar desperation plays are expected.
MORE ON THE TOPIC:
- Trump Promises Powerful Response To Tehran Amid Reports On Iran Assassination Plot Against US Officials
- Pompeo Vows US Will Never Let Iran Acquire Russian & Chinese Weapons
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