Russia and Iran formally announced a deal on November 11 to construct two new nuclear reactors in Iran. The deal further undermines already shaky efforts by the West to prevent the Islamic Republic from fielding nuclear weapons.
The new reactors will be built at the existing Bushehr nuclear power complex off the Persian Gulf coast. The contract also allows for two additional reactors to be built at this location and four others at locations elsewhere in Iran. Iran’s deputy director of international affairs, Behrouz Kamalvandi, announced in September that construction on the new reactors will begin by March 21 and will finish in five to seven years.
Iran insists its nuclear power program is for civilian use only; it has plans to build 20 more reactors, ostensibly to wean itself off of oil. Western nations say the claim is suspect, noting that Iran has one of the largest oil reserves in the world and that its reactors can produce the type of nuclear material needed for weapons.
Iran’s announcement of the deal came less than two weeks before the scheduled P5+1 talks, in which the United States, Russia, China, United Kingdom and France plus Germany were to discuss options for blocking Iran from constructing nuclear bombs. The timing of the announcement speaks to Iran’s confidence—as well as Russia’s duplicity.
Iran’s Islamist regime is the world’s most prolific state sponsor of terrorism, and it is determined to add nuclear weapons to its terror arsenal. The Islamic Republic has proven it will not surrender its ambition for these weapons of mass destruction. Now, with Russia and the West colliding over the crisis in Ukraine, Iran has a window in which it could finish and detonate its first test—or terror—bomb. Bible prophecy indicates that Iran and radical Islam will indeed unleash widespread violence, part of a chain reaction that will lead to a nuclear World War iii.