Iran in the crosshairs as West targets its nuclear, oil industries

Alameen Templeton
All signs are indicating the West is preparing for a major confrontation with Iran as Lebanon teeters on the brink of capitulating to their demands and they ratchet up tensions over Teheran’s nuclear programme and its oil industry.
Iran is hopping from foot to foot, offering to end its programme of enriching uranium to near-weapons-grade levels, while also threatening to immediately start producing weapons-grade uranium if the atomic energy agency acts against it, Reuters reports.
The UN’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), it due to issue its latest report on Iran’s nuclear energy programme, with all signs indicating the West is preparing a condemnatory report that will probably usher in a new era of tightened sanctions against the country.
War clouds looming
The US has already signalled it is ready to stand by the EU Troika – Britain, Franc and Germany – who are reportedly prodding the IAEA to issue a negative report.
Teheran’s ambitions to switch to nuclear energy has pitted it against the West, particularly after Donald Trump pulled out of the UN-administered nuclear deal in 2017.
Iran has responded to the diplomatic and economic isolation by increasing enrichment of its uranium stockpiles by 60%, far higher than levels needed to produce electricity. Ordinary uranium needs to be enriched by 90% to reach weapons-grade levels.
Underlining Western determination to take the game to Teheran, the European Union and Brexit Britain have slapped sanctions on Iran’s national oil company for supposedly supporting Russia’s war in Ukraine, in addition to a raft of other sanctions on its national airline and on specific goods that may be sold to the mullah republic.
Advanced centrifuges standing ready
The Iran Primer reports Iran denied that it had sent Russia ballistic missiles. Imposing sanctions “under this pretext are entirely unjustifiable and lack any legitimacy, legal basis, or logical foundation,” Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Esmail Baghaei said after the sanctions announcement Monday.
Iranian sources told Al-Mayadeen Teheran’s planned response to a negative IAEA report included “injecting gas into centrifuges and activating advanced centrifuges previously installed in its nuclear facilities”.
But they emphasised Iran remained committed to diplomacy and would not abandon dialogue, remaining open to resuming talks “if the other parties demonstrate genuine willingness to engage in productive talks”.
That willingness is clearly not there, with the West determined to ratchet up tensions as the whole of Arabia teeters on the brink of a regional conflagration.
Israel’s threat a few months ago to target Iran’s oil infrastructure in the Arabian Gulf has pushed the Arabian states into a common agreement with Teheran. Now, the West appears to have reconciled itself to at least a possible, temporary conflict in the world’s richest oil producing region.
Choking China’s jugular
Teheran’s biggest weapon is a closure of the Strait of Hormuz through which most of the world’s oil supplies travel. However, the Asian economies of China, Japan and Korea would be hardest hit by a closure of the strait and that may be a motivating factor behind the West’s latest maneuverings.
Swiss newspaper Neue Zurcher Zeitung last Thursday reported International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi said in an interview no evidence existed that Iran was secretly developing nuclear weapons.
Asked about the possibility of Iran creating nuclear weapons, Grossi said, “We have no information that the Iranians are pursuing a secret, parallel nuclear program.”
But such a program had existed in the past, IAEA data showed, he claimed.
And aspects of Tehran’s nuclear activities, like stocks of highly enriched uranium and the capability to manufacture advanced uranium centrifuges, raised concerns, according to Grossi.
“That’s why we need clarity before there is a complete collapse of the surveillance system,” he said.