by Hassan Mahmoudi
The ambition of obtaining such a weapon has just brought suppression for Iranians and terrorism and war for the region and the world.
An accident took place on Thursday, July 2, 2020, at a part of Iran’s atomic facilities. The Iranian authorities say it was a fire in an under-construction silo at the campus of the facility.
In lack of crystal-clear explanations, various reports point to a potential ‘sabotage’; Reuters mentioning some.
Natanz atomic facility is a part of Iran’s ‘underground facilities’ aimed at enriching uranium. It is located near Natanz in Isfahan Province, central Iran. To save the centrifuges from a ‘potential bombardment’ in this facility, 30 feet of armor-plated cement is used.
It is for more than two decades that Tehran has longed for acquiring the atomic bomb. Thus, accessing and obtaining the technology and facility required to produce a nuclear bomb has always been and still is on the regime’s agenda of expansionism. During these two decades, the regime has tried to fulfill its uranium enrichment project through maneuvers, clandestine work, deception, negotiations, threats, bargains and blackmailing so that it would have the upper hand and would be able to talk in a language of force and threat with the world, especially with the region’s countries.
Obama’s appeasement policy was a gift to this regime to facilitate this ambition as its opposition, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) is the one robust barrier that impedes it.
In 2018, President Trump withdrew from JCOPA which granted the regime a legal and legitimate mask to carry on its clandestine operations for achieving nuclear bombs.
History
In February of 2004 following the revelation of some of Tehran’s atomic activities, the regime’s Security Council held a meeting, presiding over by Khamenei himself. In this meeting, they pursued international pressures regarding Iran’s atomic project and how to thwart them.
Khamenei concluded: “Currently Europe is focused on convincing Iran to stop its project for nuclear bomb production. As US is involved in Iraq, she must treat Iran gently. We can conclude that there is no will to refer the Islamic Republic’s case to the United Nations Security Council. We must seize this opportunity to make our atomic bomb.”
While the international community is focusing on stopping the production of atomic fuel by mullahs regime, it is after making the centrifuges operational to the point that it can reach plutonium asap as the main element for an atomic explosion.
In his interview with IRNA state-run news agency on October 15, 2015, Hashemi Rafsanjani (1934-2017), a co-founder of the Islamic Republic said: “…We always had this in mind that if one day we are under threat we can use the (atomic bomb) if necessary…We talked with Pakistanis. There was this atomic scientist, Mr. Abdol Qader-Khan… In my visit to Pakistan, I asked to meet him…Anyway, they accepted to give us a hand in that…A part of our nuclear activities was at the time that we were still in war (Iran-Iraq war)…Then, we all thought that we must be armed with a preventing element; the war wasn’t to end and in our defense policies we considered Imam’s (Khomeini) saying that the war might last 20 years…The first enrichment took place in Amir-Abad, somewhere they built, using what we obtained from Pakistan, they assembled it and I went there for a visit.”
So even 20 years ago, it was clear that Tehran’s atomic project was not just a project. It was a strategy to guarantee the regime’s preservation. In more than two decades, at least 100 billion dollars of Iran’s national wealth has been squandered to achieve that.
But while as a member of the National Coronavirus Committee has put is, 18 million Iranians, about 20% of the population is infected with this virus, the people of Iran do not need and atomic weapon, that is only for preserving the mullahs in power.
The ambition of obtaining such a weapon has just brought suppression for Iranians and terrorism and war for the region and the world.
To obtain such a weapon, Tehran deprives various strata of the society of their assets and salaries, it does not even pay the nurses who sacrifice their lives amid coronavirus pandemic. Not only that, but also answers them with batons, torture, and bullet when they ask for their paychecks.
People of Iran are done with this regime. Their compatriots abroad are to hold their yearly global summit on July 17, 2020, to put an end to all this pain and to announce their platform in congruence with the people of Iran.
Hassan Mahmoudi is a Europe-based social analyst, researcher, independent observer, and commentator of Middle Eastern and Iranian Politics. He tweets under @hassan_mahmou1.
