Wednesday, January 06, 2021

Iran Up To Its Old Tricks

With Trump leaving office and an old and tired sheriff now coming to town, Iran is feeling its oats.  

Given that Biden has continuously stated he will continue the Obama administration's policy of appeasement with Iran, it's not hard to see why Iran is pushing now to enhance its leverage in future negotiations to get Biden to rejoin the ineffective nuclear deal and end US sanctions that have been working against Iran.

The Detroit News: Iran starts 20% uranium enrichment, seizes South Korean ship

Resuming a nuclear weapons program and performing an act of piracy to see how the incoming Biden administration's officials may react while Trump is hamstrung is a rather crafty move.  So far Biden and his incoming foreign policy officials haven't been condemning Iran's moves and doing anything more than saying that Biden will return to the nuclear deal.

Since 20% uranium is not used for power plants and energy production - the claimed use that Iran touts for its nuclear program - but is a direct step towards producing nuclear weapons.  Once you get to 20% enrichment, it means you're 90% of the way towards having the uranium refined to weapons-grade material.  This reduces Iran's time to getting a nuclear weapon to an estimated 2-3 months assuming they haven't been cheating this whole time.

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