Although Iran is on the verge of acquiring nuclear weapons, Biden appears to block Tehran's attempts to censor

Is President Biden blocking a European initiative aimed at increasing pressure on the Islamic Republic of Iran, even as Tehran moves ever closer to nuclear power status?

A United Nations nuclear watchdog reports that the Islamic Republic is close to possessing a bomb and is in fact already a nuclear state on the threshold. The International Atomic Energy Agency reported Monday that in the three months leading up to May 11, Iran added more than 20 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60 percent purity to its nuclear stockpiles, which is one step away from the level of a bomb.

The Islamic Republic now has more than 142 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60 percent, the IAEA reports. With all eyes on Gaza, Iran is accumulating enough enriched uranium that could, within days, be converted to power at least three nuclear devices.

In behind-the-scenes conversations with the Sun, European diplomats have long complained that Americans are blocking attempts to censor Iran at the IAEA board of governors. On Monday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Washington “opposes efforts by Britain and France to censor Iran” at an upcoming IAEA board meeting, scheduled for early next month.

With global attention focused on the war in Gaza between Israel and Tehran-backed Hamas, the Iranian nuclear issue is increasingly being pushed to the back burner on the US agenda. Mr. Biden's top Middle East adviser, Brett McGurk, and Iran coordinator, Abram Paley, visited Oman in mid-May for talks with their Iranian counterparts on “regional issues.” The White House declined to provide details on what, if anything, they accomplished or whether nuclear issues were even discussed.

The Biden administration is trying to convince its European partners that “managing the Iranian nuclear issue, rather than solving the problem, is the way forward,” Behnam Ben Taleblu, an Iran watcher at the Foundation for Peace, told the Sun. defense of democracies. Yet, he adds, “they can't even manage the problem well, because they think the pressure is counterproductive.”

An IAEA censure resolution could lead to a “rollback” at the UN Security Council and a revival of all sanctions that existed before the Obama administration orchestrated the 2015 nuclear deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, FDD CEO Mark Dubowitz told the Journal.

President Trump left the JCPOA in 2018, after which he initiated the Security Council snapback. The mechanism was designed to automatically reactivate global sanctions that existed before 2015. Yet the Europeans joined Russia and Communist China in asserting that even if each member of the original nuclear deal could unilaterally trigger the option looking back, the Trump administration had no authority to do so. SO.

While running for president in 2020, Mr. Biden pledged to revive the JCPOA. Yet even as U.S.-led negotiations in Vienna and elsewhere failed to renew the deal, the three eligible European countries – Britain, France and Germany – refused to trigger the snapback.

Diplomats at the UN told The Sun that America was also not interested in pressuring its European partners, as a rollback would kill any prospects of reviving the nuclear deal. Today, as the Journal reports, the Europeans seem more concerned than Washington about Iranian nuclear progress.

“When even Europeans say the United States is soft on Iran, we have a problem,” United Against Nuclear Iran political director Jason Brodsky told The Sun.

In response, unidentified Washington officials told the Journal that Europe could do more to pressure Iran, including blocking bank accounts on the continent and listing the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organizations.

Washington officials have long argued that Iran's nuclear progress was due to Mr. Trump's decision to leave the JCPOA. “It’s a hackneyed argument,” Mr. Brodsky said. “At some point you have to take ownership. The Biden administration’s Iran policy has been a disaster since day one.”

As the nuclear issue advances, London and Paris are calling for a censure of the IAEA which could lead to a possible return of global sanctions against Iran imposed by the UN. This is not the case in Washington. Perhaps Mr. Biden is not willing to make waves until November. Yet his approach to Iran has changed little since he came to power.

“If the administration is unwilling to even exert diplomatic pressure on a multilateral organization, in concert with America's partners, serious questions arise about its ability to stop America's nuclear buildup. Iran,” said Mr. Ben Taleblu.