Iran has become the center of inquiry, where it was reported this week that it had officially announced plans to build two new nuclear facilities in the Bushehr province, which officials claim will dramatically increase the region’s nuclear energy capacity. This has fuelled the fire that it has already created, one where the current Iranian regime has refused to accept nuclear sanctions that the US has tried to forward.
Iran has become the center of inquiry, where it was reported this week that it had officially announced plans to build two new nuclear facilities in the Bushehr province, which officials claim will dramatically increase the region’s nuclear energy capacity. This has fuelled the fire that it has already created, one where the current Iranian regime has refused to accept nuclear sanctions that the US has tried to forward.
The Iran News Update has highlighted why this has become worrisome, where critics of the Iranian regime worry that this construction may also signify plans for increased domestic output of nuclear material that could be used in the construction of an atomic weapon. Last month, a US delegation to the United Nations presented evidence that Iran had purchased and imported new equipment for the Arak heavy water facility that could provide Iran with a plutonium pathway to a nuclear weapon. These reports were not denied by Iranian officials, who instead claimed that while the installation of such equipment would violate the terms of the Joint Plan of Action signed in November 2013, the mere acquisition of that equipment was technically allowed.
This incident has been cited by many critics of the regime as proof that Iran has already violated the terms of the interim agreement. This has led to increased pressure by both houses of the US, Republicans and the Democrats where they have been adamant of the fact that if the conditions of the nuclear programme are not met, relations with Iran would be strained.
Reuters reported on Thursday that Republican Senator Bob Corker, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, had told reporters that a legislation regarding Iran’s nuclear program would be brought up for debate on the Senate floor by early February, at the latest. Two pieces of legislation are being considered: one to give the more aggressive Congress a more direct role in the negotiating process, and one to impose new economic sanctions in the event that that process does not lead to a viable deal. Certain lawmakers are concerned that the Obama administration may agree to a weak deal that does not really limit Iran’s ability to breakout to a nuclear weapon, where these concerns are due to the perception of a sliding Western influence .
The Iranian Foreign Ministry, described the construction projects in explicitly confrontational terms, quoting Rouhani as calling the Bushehr nuclear reactor “the symbol of a nation’s steadfast resistance”. This may be read as a reference not only to resistance to compromise on Iran’s enrichment capacity, but also resistance to the authority of international sanctions.
Even with this stand that Iran is taking on not compromising, the question arises how effective these measures actually are at alleviating the economic pain of sanctions that have been credited with largely crippling the Iranian economy. That success will apparently be made less by other external economic factors, such as the recent chief among them ,the recent decline in oil prices .The Economic Times reported on Thursday that Tehran had adjusted its national budget for the upcoming year, which begins in March, reducing the expected average oil price from 72 dollars per barrel to 40 dollars per barrel, much closer to the current prices. Hence one should look at the development of the nuclear facilities, in the light of both, Iran’s relations with other countries and who this nuclear plan will actually benefit.
