Iran’s nuclear program was seriously degraded by Israel and the United States in massive air strikes this past June, but Iran may still be able to rebuild it.

The Iranian regime publicly denies that it seeks nuclear weapons, claiming they do not align with the tenets of Islam. Yet Iran, contrary to the 2015 nuclear agreement, has enriched uranium to 60 percent levels that have no peaceful application, prevented international inspectors from examining its nuclear facilities, and expanded its ballistic missile arsenal.

Due to Iran’s recalcitrance, the United Nations sanctions that were lifted under the landmark deal nine years ago were reinstated by Germany, France and Britain on September 27 under the “snapback” mechanism.

The sanctions that were reimposed on Iran include financial and banking restrictions, bans on uranium enrichment or reprocessing, an embargo on conventional arms sales to Iran, and limitations on ballistic missile tests.

A resolution sponsored by China and Russia, two of Iran’s allies, sought to delay the “snapback” sanctions for six months, but it gained the support of only four countries in the 15-member Security Council.

Western countries made intensive efforts to persuade Iran to compromise, but they failed due to Iran’s refusal to make concrete commitments on scaling back its nuclear program, which Israel views as an existential threat.

Iran condemned the reinstatement of sanctions as........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)