Major Progress Made in Nuclear Talks Between U.S. and Iran in Preparation for a New Agreement -
In an effort to reach an agreement on a nuclear deal, the contacts between the United States and Iran have made major progress in the past few days. Israeli defense officials say the talks are moving forward more rapidly than expected, with the possibility that the two sides will reach an agreement within weeks.
The consensus supposedly includes a concession from Iran to stop the process of enriching uranium to high levels. In return, the regime in Tehran expects the alleviation of the international sanctions spearheaded by the United States. In the first stage, this would include the releasing of some $20 billion in Iranian assets from frozen bank accounts outside of Iran – located in South Korea, Iraq, and at the International Monetary Fund.
As part of the confidence building process between both sides, Iran also recently released three Western prisoners in their possession. Belgium, in exchange, released an Iranian diplomat they incarcerated for the last two years for his role in an attempt to plant a bomb in France.
Iran's Fattah missile is unveiled in a ceremony in Tehran on Tuesday.Credit: Hossein Zohrevand/AP
Officially, Israel opposes the understandings coming together between Iran and the U.S., and warns such a limited interim agreement – freezing uranium enrichment in return for unfreezing assets – will not be enough to guarantee international oversight of Iran at the necessary level; The expressed concerns included fears that the agreements will neither set back its nuclear program nor reduce the danger coming from Iran. By contrast, some officials in the defense establishment say the agreement would be the best case scenario – and reaching such understandings is preferable to the continuation of unfettered Iranian progress toward nuclear weapons.
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According to assessments from American intelligence services, from the moment Iran begins the process of building a nuclear bomb, it would take about 12 days to enrich uranium to a high, military, level of 90 percent —an adequate amount to manufacture a nuclear weapon. Israeli intelligence estimates that even after such a step – which Tehran has yet to take – Iran will require almost two more years to complete adapting the bomb as a nuclear warhead, which could then be mounted on a ballistic missile.
At a ceremony attended by President Ebrahim Raisi and top commanders of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards on Tuesday, Iran announced that they had successfully produced a hypersonic missile for the first time, reported Iran's official news agency IRNA. Iranian state media published pictures of the missile named Fattah, or “Conqueror” in Farsi.
Iran announced the development of the missile in November, but never revealed it in public before. Iran’s official television broadcaster called the weapon a new level that is generations ahead of antimissile technology.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant responded to the Iranian announcement during a visit to an IDF-wide military exercise in the Northern command said: “I hear our enemies taking pride in various arms developments. We have a better answer for every such thing.”