The White House on Wednesday blamed former President Donald Trump for Iran’s progress in acquiring nuclear weapons as talks to restart the nuclear deal remain deadlocked.
Trump pulled the US out of the 2018 Iran nuclear deal and reimposed sanctions.
Since then, Iran has ramped up its production of enriched uranium, leading analysts to say Tehran has reduced its “breakthrough time” – the time it takes to produce enough weapons – to a few months.
This week, Russia said it had received assurances from the US that sanctions on Moscow would not affect its role in the deal, which could mean talks to extend the 2015 deal could resume.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki was asked if Washington was ready to remove Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps from the terrorist list in order to make a deal, and she blamed Trump for the immediate threat that now poses to the world.
“The deal is not closed,” she said.
“What I would like to point out, and I would like to just go back to why we are negotiating this deal.
And right now we are negotiating this deal because Iran’s nuclear achievements threaten US interests.
“There is an urgent need to take action to contain this, which is why we work so closely together.
“And this is all the result of President Trump pulling out of the deal and Iran moving closer to having a capability, getting nuclear weapons and hastening the timing of its breakthrough.
“So we are here because of the actions of the last president and the last administration, and it is in our interest, in the interest of the whole world, to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.”
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said nuclear talks are at a critical juncture. Former President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the 2015 deal has increased the risk of Iran acquiring nuclear weapons, threatening US interests.
Iranian new generation centrifuges on display during Iran’s National Nuclear Energy Day in Tehran. Iran is currently enriching uranium to 60 percent, the highest ever.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps unveiled a new Khaibar Buster missile with a range of about 900 miles last month.
The 2015 agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA, placed restrictions on the production of enriched uranium.
But the US withdrew from the deal after Trump called it “the worst deal ever.”
Conservatives said Iran was not honoring the spirit of the agreement by fomenting unrest in the Middle East and developing missile technology.
They also warned that the expiration clauses meant that Iran would eventually be able to produce as much uranium as it wanted.
Negotiations to restart the deal resumed in Vienna at the end of last year and have reached, in the opinion of all parties, a critical moment.
Meanwhile, Iran stepped up enrichment. According to some reports, it will now take them up to six months to produce enough uranium enriched to 90 percent uranium-235, an isotype needed in weapons, to make a bomb.
Republicans are already preparing their arguments for a new version of the deal.
In particular, they criticized any prospect of Washington delisting the Revolutionary Guard, which over the weekend claimed responsibility for launching ballistic missiles at a US Army base and Kurdish news channel office in Erbil, northern Iraq.
As reported earlier this month, US negotiators are trying to convince President Joe Biden to remove his terrorist status, one of Tehran’s demands.
During her daily briefing, Psaki did not rule out such a possibility.
“We are still negotiating,” she said.
“So I’m not going to speculate or outline what the final details look like.”
Iran’s arsenal was on display over the weekend when rockets hit a US army base and a Kurdish news channel office in Erbil, northern Iraq, in response to an Israeli attack.
A day earlier, a senior US general in the Middle East said that Iran remains the biggest threat to the region and that it has 3,000 ballistic missiles, some of which could reach the Israeli Mediterranean city of Tel Aviv.
“I am concerned, first of all, that they do not have these nuclear weapons, but I am also very concerned about the significant increase in the number and effectiveness of their ballistic missiles, their [unmanned aerial vehicle] program, their long-range drones and their cruise missile program to attack ground targets,” said Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, head of Central Command.
“It’s all about me.”
Asked for more details, he said that Tehran has 3,000 ballistic missiles.
“None of them can reach Europe yet, but over the past five to seven years they have invested heavily in their ballistic missile program,” he added.
“Their missiles have longer—much longer—range and vastly improved accuracy.”
Last month, Iran unveiled the latest weapons in its arsenal.
Khaibar-buster, a reference to a Jewish castle captured by Muslim warriors led by the Prophet Muhammad in the early days of Islam, has a range of 900 miles and is powered by solid fuel, according to state media.