Iran’s response to the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) condemnation on June 5 was surprisingly muted.Since 2012, the IAEA has had the guts to condemn the Islamic Republic for its numerous nuclear violations only four times, so the retaliation could have been fierce and significant.
Instead, Tehran “merely” disclosed to the IAEA and various diplomats that it was going to increase the number of centrifuges it uses to enrich uranium, including to the 60% level.
In 2020, such a change would have been an earthquake-like elevation of the potential nuclear threat level.But the fact is that Iran has now been enriching to the 60% level with very large numbers of advanced centrifuges for four years without crossing the nuclear weapons threshold.
So, as dangerously close to nuclear weapons as this brings Tehran, it is far short of jumping to the 90% weaponized uranium level, withdrawing from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, and kicking out not just some but all of the IAEA nuclear inspectors from the country. READ MORE
