Iran Reports Meeting Held With European Diplomats

In an open letter published by the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, 44 American generals and admirals wrote, “To confront this pressing high-priority threat, the United States should immediately provide Israel with the advanced weapons it needs to deter and prevent a nuclear Iran.”

The US, Israel’s biggest defense supplier, was urged by the group to “expedite delivery—through outright sale, temporary lease, or prepositioning in Israel—KC-46A aerial refueling tankers, F-15I’s, F-35s, and precision-guided munitions, such as the Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM)”.

However, Israel, Iran’s nemesis, currently has its lowest ever approval rating from the Democrats amidst ongoing conflict with the Palestinians which have seen clashes at their worst since the second intifada 20 years ago, and a right-wing government trying to overhaul the judicial system, impose strict religious policies as well as expanding settlement building, contravening international law. 

Iran says its nuclear technology is solely for civil purposes, but its policy of enriching uranium to over 80 percent has no civilian use and only a short step away from bomb-level purity of 90 percent. The nuclear threat is “one of the most pressing strategic challenges America faces today”, according to the group.

“Our military experience has taught us that demonstrating the willingness and capability to use force offers the best chance against having to do so. If a conflict does commence, it is best to possess already the weapons necessary to achieve success,” the group added.

"The prospect of cooperation in the field of 'new energy' and renewable energy sources, as well as in the field of other types of energy, including peaceful nuclear energy, certainly causes great interest and motivation for expanding economic relations with Russia," Khanduzi said in an interview with Russia’s RIA state news agency published on Tuesday.

Iran and Russia are cooperating to expand Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant. Russia started deliveries of nuclear fuel for Bushehr in late 2007, a step both Washington and Moscow said removed any need for Iran to have its own uranium enrichment program.

Khanuzi also said Iran counts on "huge volumes" of oil and gas swaps from Russia this year.

"This year will witness huge volumes of swap supplies. We are very pleased that Tehran and Moscow have started cooperation on the issue of swap supplies of oil and gas," Khanduzi was cited as saying.

There were no details on what volumes of oil and gas Iran is expecting.

In October, Russia said that a swap deal with Iran may initially include 5 million tons of oil and 10 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year.

There have been many reports about possible Russian investments in Iran’s fossil fuel sector, but so far no projects have been launched.

Iran has been delivering drones to Russia for its war on Ukraine and Western powers have expressed serious concerns over expanding military ties between Tehran and Moscow.

EU countries have agreed to take new punitive measures against those responsible for the repression, the Dutch website De Telegraff quoted some sources as saying.

The bloc’s foreign ministers still have to approve the sanctions on Monday at their meeting in Brussels, but it is expected to be adopted.

The designated individuals and organizations will no longer be allowed to enter the EU and can no longer access any assets in the union. The EU has so far imposed such sanctions on 196 Iranians and 33 Iranian organizations and companies including prominent politicians and security officials.

The latest round of sanctions from the EU in late February included Iran's Culture Minister Mohammad Mehdi Esmaili for persecuting artists and filmmakers and also Education Minister Yousef Nouri for suppressing students.

The European Parliament has called on the EU to list the Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist entity, blaming it for the repression of domestic protests and the supply of drones to Russia.

However, the 27-nation bloc has so far stopped short of blacklisting the IRGC as a terror group, despite calls from Berlin and Amsterdam.

Asked by Iran International’s correspondent how he judges US policy on Iran after no diplomatic successes in two years, Price argued that Iran poses “a number of challenges, and we’ve always been clear-eyed that those challenges are difficult – they are complex; they cross into many different realms.”

Price claimed, “when you take a look at each one of those realms, you have seen us work with allies and partners in ways that meaningfully protect our interests and promote our interests.”

However, since President Joe Biden signaled his readiness in 2020 to revive the Obama-era nuclear deal with Iran, known as the JCPOA, the Islamic Republic has dangerously increased the level of its uranium enrichment, first to 20 and then to 60-percent purity starting in early 2021.

It also increased oil shipments to China despite US sanctions and continued its meddling in the Middle East. Tehran has also refused to fully cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and in fact has substantially reduced the UN watchdog’s monitoring capacity at its nuclear installations.

The Biden administration also agreed to hold indirect talks with Iran to revive the JCPOA, with Russia playing a major role until its attack on Ukraine last year. Talks lasting 18 months came to a deadlock in September 2022, as Iran stonewalled while it was shipping kamikaze drones to Russia.

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Price also admitted that Iran did not conduct honest negotiations. The “Iranian regime has not been true to its word when it said early on in this administration that it sought a mutual return to compliance with the JCPOA. It has consistently proven itself unable or unwilling to do so,” Price said.

“When it comes to Iran’s nuclear program, of course this is one of those core challenges. But I think when you look at where we are now as opposed to where we had been or where the previous administration had been, we are now united with our European allies,” Price said, highlighting the only area of success in two years.

Former President Donald Trump’s unilateral style in foreign policy had annoyed the Europeans, who often just tolerated his moves but were clearly unhappy. But the same cannot be said about US allies in the region, where both Israel and the block led by Saudi Arabia agreed with Trump’s policy of ‘maximum pressure’ against Tehran.

With the latest move by Saudi Arabia to re-establish diplomatic ties with Iran under Chinese guarantees, clearly shows regional allies are not sure about the Biden administration’s ability to handle Iran.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaking to reporters in Ethiopia Wednesday tried to put a positive spin on the development, saying, “anything that can help reduce tensions, avoid conflict, and curb in any way dangerous or destabilizing actions by Iran is a good thing… And to the extent that China facilitated conclusion of this agreement to restore diplomatic relations, that’s a good thing.”

This will be seen by many as an admission that China is able to provide security to Saudi Arabia while the United States has somehow left a void.

As China, Russia and Iran began naval drills in the region less than a week after the Chinese-brokered deal, one administration critic tweeted, “Wondering if we’ll hear from more anonymous US officials saying, ‘ultimately, this a good thing’.”

Robert Malley made the comments after meeting with the Director General of the IAEA, Rafael Grossi, which Malley called “productive”, during which they discussed Grossi’s recent trip to Tehran.

In a Tweet, Malley said, “I welcomed his efforts to engage Iran on nuclear issues of concern to the IAEA. We stressed that Iran should follow through on its commitments made to the IAEA and should facilitate any access deemed necessary by the agency.”

Grossi reportedly reached an agreement with the authorities of the Islamic Republic on the visit earlier this month, regarding further inspections by the IAEA. However, the outcome of those talks is yet to be seen.

Many commentators inside and outside Iran have been skeptical of the visit, which came after the UN watchdog’s inspectors announced that enriched uranium particles with 84% purity had been found at Fordow site near Tehran.

Although Iran has denied enriching uranium with a concentration of more than 60%, Western diplomats say what prevented the adoption of a resolution by the IAEA Board of Governors against Tehran was Grossi’s recent agreement with the Islamic Republic.

During his visit, Grossi had said it was an "issue of necessity to have a very deep, serious, systematic dialogue with Iran”.