The US, Iran and the Middle East

Iranian MPs seek hardening of nuclear stance after scientist killed

DUBAI (Reuters) - A bill requiring Iran’s government to suspend nuclear inspections unless sanctions are lifted, and ignore other restraints on its nuclear programme agreed with major powers, was passed by the hardline-led parliament on Tuesday.

But the government promptly said the move, proposed in response to the assassination of a top nuclear scientist on Friday, could not change Iran’s nuclear policy, which was the province of the Supreme National Security Council...

Lawmakers later passed the full bill, including a provision requiring the government to suspend United Nations nuclear inspections if Western powers which are still part of the 2015 nuclear accords, as well as China and Russia, do no re-establish Iran’s access to world banking and oil markets within a month.

Parliament has often demanded a hardening of Iran’s position on the nuclear issue in recent years, without much success...

The bill, which still needs to be endorsed by a clerical body to become law, also called for Iran to enrich uranium “for peaceful uses” to 20% purity in breach of the nuclear accord.Iran has already breached the limits set in its deal with world powers, which scrapped sanctions in return for curbs to Tehran’s nuclear programme, to protest at Trump’s withdrawal from the accord and the reimposition of sanctions.

The maximum fissile purity to which it has enriched uranium has remained around 4.5%, above the deal’s 3.67% cap but below the 20% Iran had achieved before, and below the 90% purity that is considered weapons-grade...

Iran watchdog passes law on hardening nuclear stance, halting U.N. inspections

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran’s watchdog body approved a law on Wednesday that obliges the government to halt U.N. inspections of its nuclear sites and step up uranium enrichment beyond the limit set under Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal if sanctions are not eased in a month.

In retaliation for the killing last week of Iran’s top nuclear scientist, which Tehran has blamed on Israel, Iran’s hardline-dominated parliament on Tuesday approved the bill with a strong majority that will harden Iran’s nuclear stance.

The Guardian Council is charged with ensuring draft laws do not contradict Shi’ite Islamic laws or Iran’s constitution. However, the stance of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the last word on all matters of state, is not known...

Iran pressures Biden with plan to increase underground enrichment machines

VIENNA (Reuters) - Iran is raising pressure on U.S. President-elect Joe Biden with plans to install more advanced uranium-enriching centrifuges at an underground plant in breach of its deal with major powers, a U.N. nuclear watchdog report showed on Friday.

The confidential International Atomic Energy Agency report obtained by Reuters said Iran plans to install several more cascades, or clusters, of advanced IR-2m centrifuges in the underground plant at Natanz, which was apparently built to withstand aerial bombardment...

Iranian Arms, Fighters Bolster Maduro Government in Venezuela, U.S. Says

WASHINGTON—Iran has sent arms and dispatched paramilitary operatives to help Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro maintain his hold on power, the top U.S. military commander for Central and South America said Wednesday.

“We see a growing Iranian influence in there,” Adm. Craig Faller, the head of the U.S. Southern Command, told reporters, citing the “alarming and concerning” presence of military personnel from the elite Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Tehran has used the force to support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and other foreign allies and proxies...

U.S. blacklists Iranian envoy, possibly to pressure Yemen's Houthis

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States imposed terrorism sanctions on Iran’s envoy to the Houthis on Tuesday, a step possibly aimed at pressuring the group to reach an accord to end the five-year war in Yemen.

The U.S. Treasury described Hasan Irlu as an official of Iran’s elite Quds Force, the overseas arm of the Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and a pillar of Iranian efforts to project its power in Yemen, Syria and elsewhere...

The decision to target Irlu appears in part a signal to the Iran-backed Houthis, who have been battling a Saudi-led military coalition in Yemen since 2015...

To Deter Iranian Attacks on U.S. Troops, Pentagon Orders B-52 Flights to Middle East

WASHINGTON — Two American B-52 bombers flew a show-of-force mission in the Persian Gulf on Thursday that military officials said was intended to deter Iran and its proxies from carrying out attacks against United States troops in the Middle East amid rising tensions between the two countries.

The lumbering warplanes’ 36-hour round-trip mission from Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana was the second time in three weeks that Air Force bombers had conducted long-range flights near Iranian air space on short notice...

Iran Lifts Nuclear Research Group's Budget by 256 Percent After Scientist Killing

Iran's defense minister has announced that the organization overseeing the military's nuclear research projects will be given a 256 percent budget increase, less than a month after one of its leading scientists was assassinated near Tehran.

Defense Minister Amir Hatami said Tuesday that the Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research—widely known by its Farsi acronym, SPND—will have its annual budget more than trebled, according to the state-run Fars News Agency...