Biden administration needs to get tough with Iran
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Unfortunately, the Biden administration is being too lenient with the Iranian regime. It is now incumbent on the White House to take a firm stance toward the regime before it is too late.
Tehran has been getting away with an unprecedented level of violations since US President Joe Biden assumed office. When it comes to its nuclear program, the theocratic establishment has now reached a record level of advancement. The New York Times last month reported: “By most accounts, Iran is closer to being able to produce a bomb today than at any other point in the two-decade-long saga of its nuclear program — even if it is planning, as many national security officials believe, to stop just short of producing an actual weapon.”
Some of the critical advancements include enriching a substantial amount of uranium — up to 60 percent purity, a short technical step away from the 90 percent purity required to build a nuclear weapon. US allies France, Germany and the UK last month warned that the Iranian government’s latest actions are “further reducing the time Iran would take to break out toward a first nuclear weapon and… fueling distrust as to Iran’s intentions.” Even one of the Biden administration’s own senior officials has acknowledged that Iran is only weeks away from obtaining nuclear capability. Secretary of State Antony Blinken issued the warning in April during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing.
The Iranian regime is also digging an underground nuclear facility in Natanz that is reportedly extremely difficult to bomb. Even Israel does not have the military capability to attack this underground nuclear site. In a report published early this year, the president of the Institute for Science and International Security, David Albright, pointed out: “Fordow is already viewed as so deeply buried that it would be difficult to destroy via aerial attack. The new Natanz site may be even harder to destroy.”
Such nuclear violations would have been considered major transgressions under previous US administrations and would likely have triggered proportionate responses against the clerical establishment of Iran.
Tehran has been getting away with an unprecedented level of violations since Biden assumed office.
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh
As the Iranian leaders see that the Biden administration is not taking any firm action against them, they have become even more emboldened in ramping up their nuclear program. The latest report from the International Atomic Energy Agency on Iran’s nuclear program revealed that the regime is preparing to increase its uranium enrichment at the Fordow plant. According to a June 20 Reuters report, Iran “is escalating its uranium enrichment further by preparing to use advanced IR-6 centrifuges at its underground Fordow site that can more easily switch between enrichment levels.”
Meanwhile, the Biden administration does not appear to be holding those who are violating Iran’s sanctions to account. For example, ever since Biden assumed office, Iran’s oil exports have been on the rise in spite of US sanctions. During the Trump administration, Iran’s oil exports were reduced to as little as 100,000 to 200,000 barrels per day. But it is currently exporting more than 1 million bpd, about 70 to 80 percent of which are going to China. “Oil sales have doubled. We are not worried about oil sales,” hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi boasted in May.
Iran is also sending considerable amounts of oil to Venezuela without either country facing consequences or fearing repercussions from the Biden administration. Last month, an Iran-flagged tanker that was carrying nearly a million barrels of crude oil arrived in Venezuelan waters. It was the third delivery of crude supplied by Iran’s Naftiran Intertrade Company to Venezuela’s state-run oil firm PDVSA.
When it comes to the Middle East, the Iranian regime has escalated its destabilizing and destructive behavior. For example, it continues to ramp up its smuggling of weapons to the Houthi militia in Yemen. In a February report, the UN Panel of Experts on Yemen stated that “there are several critical pieces of evidence that indicate the Islamic Republic has been smuggling weapons to Yemen, in violation of UN Security Council Resolution 2140. Last year, a cargo ship was discovered heading to Yemen from the port of Jask in southern Iran, carrying a variety of rifles and launchers. They in turn had been seized from vessels originating in Iran.”
The regime has also ratcheted up its sponsorship and employment of terror cells in foreign countries.
In a nutshell, the Biden administration has been too lenient with the Iranian regime in spite of its unprecedented level of violations. This approach will only further embolden and empower the regime.
• Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a Harvard-educated Iranian-American political scientist. Twitter: @Dr_Rafizadeh
