Iran’s move to rebuild missile program raises concern in Washington - Jewish Insider

"Having rebranded its “Department of Defense” as the “Department of War”, a nuclear-armed bully is resuming testing of atomic weapons," Abbas Araghchi said on X on Friday, citing a social media post by Trump earlier yesterday.

Trump cited the arsenals of Russia and China as well as nuclear tests by unspecified other countries for ordering instructing the "Department of War" he recently rebranded to "start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis."

Arch-foes since the 1979 Islamic Revolution and Tehran hostage crisis, Iran and the United States have been locked in a tense standoff in the energy-rich Mideast for decades but relations exploded into open conflict in June.

Two months after the start of US-Iran talks aimed at resolving an impasse over Tehran's disputed nuclear program, Israel launched a surprise military campaign on Iran capped by US strikes on three key Iranian nuclear sites.

Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons and relations have soured in recent weeks as a diplomatic solution appears elusive.

"The same bully has been demonizing Iran's peaceful nuclear program and threatening further strikes on our safeguarded nuclear facilities, all in blatant violation of international law," Araghchi added.

"Make no mistake: The U.S. is the World’s Most Dangerous Proliferation Risk The announcement of a resumption of nuclear tests is a regressive and irresponsible move and a serious threat to international peace and security."

Iran's economic woes and isolation have deepened since European-triggered UN sanctions resumed last month despite Chinese and Russian efforts to ban the maneuver codified by a mostly defunct 2015 nuclear deal Trump quit.

"The world must unite to hold the U.S. accountable for normalizing the proliferation of such heinous weapons," Araghchi said.

“Today we are announcing sanctions against corrupt Iranian banker and businessman, Aliakbar Ansari, for his role in financially supporting the activities of the IRGC," minister of state for the Middle East in the UK foreign office Hamish Falconer said in a statement.

"The IRGC is one of the most powerful military organizations in Iran, reporting directly to the Supreme Leader. Its use of repression and targeted threats to carry out hostile acts, including here in the UK, is completely unacceptable," he added.

Ansari, 56, will now be subject to an asset freeze, disqualification from any UK company ownership and a travel ban. He holds multiple passports, including from Iran, St Kitts and Nevis, and Cyprus the foreign office added.

The British government said last month it was determined to frustrate what it called escalating Iranian threats to people on UK soil, citing cyberattacks and the use of criminal proxies to carry out attacks.

The government in March designated the Iranian state in its entirety on the enhanced tier of its new Foreign Influence Registration Scheme (FIRS).

The move means anyone working for or directed by the Iranian state to conduct activities in the UK must declare those activities or face up to five years in prison.

Araghchi said lifting sanctions is the Foreign Ministry’s exclusive mission, carried out “with dignity and in defense of national interests.”

“Negotiation is different from taking dictation and receiving orders; we accept fair talks based on mutual interests.”

Iran’s foreign policy, he added, aims to preserve independence while keeping dialogue open, despite renewed pressure and the reimposition of UN sanctions.

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  Qatar offers to help revive US-Iran nuclear talks

Regional mediation efforts

Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said on Wednesday that his government is working to help revive US-Iran nuclear negotiations suspended after the June war between Iran, Israel, and the United States.

“We are trying to engage with the United States and with the Iranians to make sure that the talks come back on track between the two countries, because I believe once we have the talks started, we can achieve an agreement,” Al Thani said at an event hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations think tank in New York.

Qatar, which shares the world’s largest natural gas field with Iran across the Persian Gulf, has often played a mediating role between Tehran and Western powers.

Washington demanded that Tehran halt all uranium enrichment, but Iran refused, insisting that the pursuit of peaceful nuclear technology is its legitimate international right.

“Grossi knows very well that Iran’s nuclear program is peaceful,” Esmail Baghaei told Al-Jazeera.

“The consequences of Grossi’s catastrophic statements paved the way for American and Israeli aggression against Iran.”

Grossi’s comments in New York

Inspectors had not observed any suspicious activity at Iranian nuclear sites struck by the United States in June, Grossi said on Wednesday in New York, adding that monitoring had resumed in part.

“We do not see anything that would give rise to hypotheses of any substantive work going on there,” Grossi added.

"We are trying to build it back, and we are inspecting in Iran," he said, "not at every site where we should be doing it - but we are gradually coming back."

Conditional cooperation

Iran limited cooperation with the IAEA following the 12-day war in June, under legislation giving the Supreme National Security Council authority over inspection access.

Iran continues to meet its safeguards commitments under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty while adhering to the parliamentary law, Baghaei said on Tuesday.

“In fulfilling these safeguards obligations, we are maintaining interactions with the IAEA while taking into account parliament’s law, which designates the Supreme National Security Council as the authority responsible for decisions on cooperation with the agency,” Baghaei said.

Although Iran and the IAEA agreed in Cairo last month to resume inspections, doubts persist after Germany, France, and the United Kingdom triggered procedures to restore UN sanctions.

A report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies said satellite imagery shows continued construction at a major underground nuclear facility near Natanz.

The Iranian security chief Ali Larijani “cites my 12-Day War report but skips the part where Iran lost: Iran’s missile and drone attacks were overwhelmingly defeated by US and Israeli defenses and Israel’s crushing strikes against Iran,” Ari Cicurel, Associate Director of Foreign Policy at JINSA and author of the report “Shielded by Fire,” wrote on X.

The Iranian official had written that “Iran's armed forces demonstrated power in the war against the Zionists,” invoking the JINSA study to back his argument. But the report, released in August 2025, found that Iran’s missile and drone attacks were mostly neutralized through integrated US-Israel air and missile defenses.

US defenses decisive

The 29-page study said Iran launched 574 ballistic missiles and more than 1,000 drones between June 13 and 24, yet only 49 missiles impacted populated areas or infrastructure. It attributed Israel’s limited damage to the combined interception network, which it said achieved an 85 percent success rate.

“The vast majority of the over 500 ballistic missiles fired by Iran did no damage to Israel, that success due in large part to ad hoc US-led air defense cooperation,” the report said.

The analysis credited Washington’s role as decisive, noting that the United States deployed two THAAD missile defense batteries and several Aegis-equipped destroyers to support Israel and provided over 230 interceptors -- around a quarter of its total stockpile.

Contrasting narratives

Israel’s counterstrikes destroyed hundreds of Iranian launchers and reduced its missile stockpile from 2,500 to roughly 1,000 - 1,500, forcing Tehran to scale back its offensives, according to the report.

While Iran’s security chief portrayed the conflict as a demonstration of military strength, the JINSA study described it as a costly confrontation that exposed Iran’s vulnerabilities.

The report concluded that Israel and the United States must expand interceptor production and formalize their missile defense coordination to prevent Iran from regaining its offensive capacity.