Iran Nuclear Stockpile Grows

JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images

Iran Nuclear Stockpile Grows

Yet another proof of Iran’s contempt for negotiations

The past 18 months have seen a flurry of nuclear negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 nations. Yet according to a United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency (iaea) report, over the same period of time Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile has also seen an increase in activity.

The report claims that Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium has grown by 20 percent—8 percent in the last two months alone.

The report flies in the face of Washington’s claim that the stockpile had been reduced or destroyed. In early March, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest stated, “[I]n the context of these talks, we’ve actually succeeded in not just halting Iran’s progress as it relates to their nuclear program but actually rolling it back in several key areas, including reducing and eliminating their stockpile of highly enriched uranium.”

Yet, if anything, Iran has rolled forward, not back. With the stockpile of highly enriched uranium larger than ever and the deadline for negotiations upon us, Washington’s best response is to say that the burgeoning stockpile isn’t an issue.

After all, Iran can be trusted can’t it? That is certainly what the United States government is banking on. State Department Spokeswoman Marie Harf said, “Under the jpoa [Joint Plan of Action], Iran can fluctuate its numbers in terms of their stockpile. They can go up and down as long as at the end of the fixed date they are back down below a number.”

So when the White House stated that the stockpile was gone, it merely meant that a promise to eliminate the uranium existed.

But time and time again, Iran has proved that it is unwilling and incapable of being held to its word. Take the current stockpile for instance.

Iran promised to create a conversion plant that would transform the enriched uranium into oxide powder, the first step in creating reactor fuel rods capable of being used for peaceful purposes. At least that is what Iran promised to do within six months of the interim agreement. The window of time came, passed, nothing was converted, and the deadline was pushed to November 2014 and then again to June 2015.

Has the U.S. government stopped to ask itself how a stockpile that was supposed to remain static somehow grew by 20 percent over the last 18 months? Iran hasn’t stopped its enrichment, nor has it any plans to remove it if a deal is signed.

Another question the U.S. should ask: How does Iran go about oxidizing the uranium? The Institute of Science and International Security scrutinized this very question. Its conclusion? Iran is incapable of reaching the obligations it has under the Joint Plan of Action. Iran still has to finish converting 2,720 kilograms of ow-energy Uranium into oxide before the June 30 deadline. On top of that, over 1,000 kilograms have been produced since the interim deal was struck. Iran has no way of oxidizing and converting this low-enriched uranium in time for the signing of a deal at the end of the month.

Under the terms being negotiated, Iran is not to have more than 300 kilograms of nuclear fuel—less than is required to make a nuclear bomb. But that means the other 96 percent of Iran’s nuclear fuel still has to be destroyed. There is no way this stockpile can be removed, even if Iran did try to hold to its promises.

But all likelihood is that Iran has no intention of halting its nuclear program—not today, tomorrow or after a deal is signed. President Obama and his negotiation team are operating on blind faith that Iran can be trusted. What they should be doing instead is looking at the past fruits of negotiating with a nation that wants to kill them.

Read Trumpet managing editor Joel Hilliker and contributor Aaron Hudson’s latest article, “President Obama’s Remarkable Defense of the Iran Nuclear Deal.” This article explains the current negotiations and the minds that are driving it. As they wrote:

Fifteen years of failed negotiations tell us that while one side seeks a peaceful outcome, the other seeks the bomb. Iran is not interested in negotiations, peace deals or living alongside Israel. If it were, negotiations would have concluded years ago and Westerners would be sipping piña coladas in tourist resorts along the Persian Gulf.

Iran’s expanding nuclear stockpile is just one more proof of its contempt for negotiations. Keep watching. Deal or no deal, nothing good will come of the June 30 deadline.