Members of the Iranian parliament are moving to ignore a deal struck with western governments last month and enrich uranium to bomb grade.
The bill in the Iranian Parliament would allow enrichment of uranium up to 60 percent. That would put the country in direct violation of the agreement reached last month with the United States, Britain and other western nations.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has supported the agreement but he has not commented on whether he will continue to support the deal in light of the bill in Parliament.
The bill is disguising the plan to create nuclear bomb material by saying it would provide energy for nuclear submarines.
The bill could be debated and voted on within a week. If passed, the Iranian government would have no choice but to follow the law and enrich uranium to 60 percent.
The Christmas season has been a very somber one for the family and supporters of Pastor Saeed Abedini, imprisoned in Iran for being a Christian.
Pastor Saeed’s wife Neghmeh has criticized the Obama administration for not taking steps during recent negotiations and communications with Iran to have her husband freed.
“Initially, when I went to the U.S. government, they said we don’t have a direct relationship with Iran,” Naghmeh Abdeini said. “Here we were sitting across table from Iran. It was our best leverage. It should have been a precondition.”
She also was critical of an Obama administration action to release an Iranian copy who tried to steal nuclear weapon technology from the United States without securing the release of American captives.
Pastor Saeed’s lawyer Jay Sekulow said that he has been routinely beaten by fellow inmates and prison guards and is infested by lice.
Supporters are spending time today praying for the release of Pastor Abedini and for God to reunite him with his family.
Senior British diplomatic sources revealed to a Kuwaiti newspaper that U.S. officials are conducting indirect discussions with terrorist group Hezbollah by receiving information through British negotiations and communications with the group.
Great Britain does not formally identify Hezbollah as a terrorist group and thus can conduct face-to-face meetings with the group. Because the United States classifies the group as terrorists, U.S. officials cannot meet directly with them.
A diplomatic source in Washington characterized the talks as keeping tabs on the region and the world and preparation for Iran to return to the international community.
Hezbollah is backed by the Iranian government and according to people connected to a meeting last week between Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and British Prime Minister David Cameron the move by the U.S. is seen as a way to show Washington’s willingness for diplomacy with Tehran.
The U.S. reportedly said through the British they would “warm up to a direct relationship in the future” with Hezbollah.
Iran now has the means to launch a nuclear weapon.
A commander with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard told the state-run FARS news agency that their country now has “indigenous” ballistic missile technology that would allow attacks on distant countries.
Brigadier General Hossein Salami said that “Iran is among the only three world countries enjoying an indigenous ballistic missile technology.”
The announcement comes as details trickle out from the previously announced agreement between Iran and world powers to stop that country’s nuclear program. The announced deal reportedly has not been finalized and no timetable set, thus allowing Iran to continue enriching uranium.
State Department Spokeswoman Jen Psaki confirmed Iran is not yet required to halt their uranium enrichment activities.
“In terms of what the Iranians are or aren’t doing, you know, obviously, our hope would be, given we are respecting the spirit of the agreement in pressing for sanctions not to be put in place and beginning the process of figuring out how to deliver on our end of the bargain, that the same would be coming from their end in the spirit of the—of the agreement,” Psaki said at a press conference.
Iran’s president gave indications during an interview that his nation’s deal with western powers over their nuclear program was more than just an attempt to ease international sanctions.
Hassan Rouhani said that Israel has become an isolated country after Iran reached a deal with the U.S, Russia, Great Britain and other western powers.
While not referring to Israel by name, Rouhani told Iranian state TV during an interview about his first 100 days in office that “our enemies are isolated” and referred to the enemy as “an illegitimate, occupier regime”, language used by previous Iranian leaders to describe Israel.
Israel had criticized the deal as a “historic mistake” and said Iran’s intentions were not what western government leaders had claimed.
President Obama and other world leaders were hailing an agreement with Iran to put some controls on that country’s nuclear program but throughout the Middle East the news of the agreement was met with anger and skepticism.
Saudi Arabian officials were furious that American negotiators and those connected to the Obama administration had not briefed them at all regarding the deal with Iran. A senior advisor to the Saudi royal family said they had been lied to and that the Obama administration had hidden information from them. He said Saudi leaders were not necessarily upset with the deal but the way it was handled by Washington.
The Saudi government eventually issued a moderately supportive statement about the deal.
“This agreement could be a first step towards a comprehensive solution for Iran’s nuclear program, if there are good intentions,” the statement read.
Meanwhile, Israel reiterated their opposition to the deal. Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon said that all options are on the table for his nation.
“We are not in a position of making a mistake or to gamble with our future,” Danon said. “That is why I am saying it very clear. All options are still on the table. And if we see that Iran continues with the effort to build a nuclear bomb, we will do whatever is necessary to protect ourselves.”
The wife of an American pastor imprisoned in Iran for being a Christian is outraged that the Obama Administration did nothing to secure her husband’s release while in talks over that country’s nuclear program.
The White House confirmed over the weekend that they made no efforts at all to secure the release of Saeed Abedini during the nuclear negotiations.
“It’s unbearable,” Naghmeh Abedini said to Fox News, “to think of another Christmas without him and see my kids not have him home for Christmas.”
Abedini’s supporters say the deal with Iran takes America’s best leverage off the table for the release of the persecuted pastor.
Jay Sekulow of the American Center for Law And Justice said that President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry have “turned their backs on a U.S. citizen.”
As world powers meet with Iranian negotiators over that country’s nuclear program, Iran’s supreme leader has made some strong anti-Semitic declarations against the nation of Israel.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Tehran will only make limited concessions during the negotiations and then blasted Israel saying they were “the rabid dog of the region.”
“The Zionist regime is a regime whose pillars are extremely shaky and is doomed to collapse,” Khamenei said to AFP news agency.
French President Francois Hollande said that the comments by Khamenei were “unacceptable” but did not think they would derail the negotiations.
Israel and Saudi Arabia have both expressed concerns that the western nations negotiating with Iran would rush to ease sanctions without actually getting Iran to give up anything of significance.
The head of Iran’s atomic energy organization confirmed long spread rumors that Russia will help the nation build a nuclear reactor.
Akbar Salehi, head of the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization, announced Tuesday that he hopes to see the construction of the country’s second nuclear power station start in 2014 and that it will be lead “by the Russians.”
The plant is one of 34 potential new nuclear sites identified by the Iranian government.
Experts point out that Iran’s building of a new nuclear power plant would allow them more access to plutonium which can be used to fuel a nuclear weapon. Iran also continues to enrich uranium, another nuclear powered fuel.
The White House has asked Congress to not pass a new round of sanctions against Iran for the expansion of their nuclear program. House members said that because Iran has not slowed down their nuclear program the Congress should not slow down increasing sanctions.
American Pastor Saeed Abedini, who has been moved by Iranian officials to a prison notorious for prisoners killing other prisoners, has reportedly been denied medication and blankets his father tried to give him.
Prison officials said that Abedini is not allowed to have any personal belongings. Those familiar with Rajai Shahr prison say the prison is severely overcrowded and that conditions inside are “deadly and inhumane.”
Jordan Sekulow, the executive director of the American Center for Law and Justice, announced Abedini’s move from Evin prison to the brutal Rajai Shahr last week although the Iranian government gave no explanation for the move. He said that without medication, the health of Abedini is likely to quickly decline.
Over 211,000 people have signed a petition calling for President Obama to take immediate action on behalf of Abedini believing that Iran moved the American pastor in the hopes that he will be killed in prison.
