Following reports last month that Iran had enriched uranium to 84% purity, and the announcement that it could produce enough material for a nuclear bomb in “about 12 days,” Fox News reported earlier this week that Iran has made a secret deal with Russia to secure enriched uranium.
According to the report, the agreement reached last summer would see Russia return Iran’s enriched uranium if a nuclear deal falls through. It is believed the agreement was made in July, when Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in Iran.
While the report did not specify which uranium would be returned, the agreement reportedly refers to over 25,000 pounds of low-enriched uranium that Iran transferred to Russia in 2015. While the U.S. State Department reported the transfer, it was never verified by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
The Fox News report claimed that Iran likely added the uranium return as part of a broad deal to supply Russia with drones and weapons needed for its fight against Ukraine.
An intelligence official, who declined to be named, told Fox that the agreement “would significantly undermine U.S. interests and would give Russia de facto control over the nuclear agreement in the present and future.”
Jason Brodsky, the policy director of the U.S.-based United Against a Nuclear Iran, said this deal highlights the change in dynamics between Russia and Iran from 2015 until now.
“Iran has leverage over Russia in 2023 that it did not have in 2015 with its supply of arms,” he said.
He also said that the agreement between Iran and Russia proves that “the JCPOA [nuclear deal] of 2015 has no future. It’s time to declare it dead, invoke the snapback sanctions mechanism and pivot to a deterrence strategy as the diplomatic track has run aground.”
The U.S. and Europe reportedly have growing concerns that Israel is planning a strike on Iran to prevent its successful development of a nuclear weapon.
Earlier this week, IAEA Dir.-Gen. Rafael Grossi said that any Israeli or American strike against Iran’s nuclear sites would be considered illegal.
Iran has threatened repeatedly to destroy Israel.
Following Grossi’s comments, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked, “Are we forbidden to defend ourselves?
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