This episode has no apparent connection either with Sunday’s operation, much less with Israel. However, it must be said that the Parchin research center is suspected by the IAEA (the International Atomic Energy Agency) of being used by Iran for carrying out some tests aimed at the development of nuclear weapons.
Negotiations on nuclear power
These two recent episodes are part of the delicate negotiation process that has been trying for months to resurrect the 2015 nuclear deal, then sunk in 2018 by the decision of former US President Donald Trump to withdraw the United States. Just in the past few hours, from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian has invited American President Joe Biden to end Trump’s policies towards Iran, stressing that the diplomatic window is open.
However, the US envoy for talks with Iran and other world powers said the prospects for reviving the deal are “weak at best”. Giving Tehran limited relief from sanctions could still save the deal and provide the basis for a broader understanding, Robert Malley told the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
In July 2015, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, better known as Jpcoa, was signed by Iran with the United States, Russia, France, the United Kingdom and China plus Germany: the so-called 5+ agreement 1 (with the European Union). The aim was to allow Tehran to carry out a nuclear energy plan but with the guarantee that it would not result in the allocation of nuclear weapons. After the collapse of the agreement, however, the Iranian development plan on atomic energy resumed with the entry into operation of modern centrifuges for the enrichment of uranium, amid protests and concerns from Israel and, also, of the Western community.
On several occasions, in the recent past, some Iranian research centers have been the subject of accidents that have compromised their work and Israel had also eliminated the head of Tehran’s nuclear program.