The Iran wildcard

International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi addresses a news conference during an IAEA Board of Governors meeting in Vienna, Monday. [AP]

Late last month, as part of its monitoring of Iran's nuclear program, the International Atomic Energy Agency reported trace amounts of uranium at 84% enrichment. That's important, because 90% enrichment is required to produce a nuclear weapon. On February 28, a senior US Defense Department official warned that "Iran's nuclear progress since we left the [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action] has been remarkable. Back in 2018, when the [Trump] administration decided to leave the JCPOA, it would have taken Iran about 12 months to produce one bomb's worth of fissile material. Now it would take about 12 days."

Talks continue over whether Iran, the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and China will resume negotiations over a return to the Iran nuclear deal, known as the JCPOA. For now, however, Iran seems more interested in creating new "facts on the ground" that must...

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