On Wednesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif announced that Iran would continue its development at the Arak nuclear reactor unabated, despite White House announcements that Iranian nuclear development had been frozen. “Capacity at the Arak site is not going to increase,” Zarif said to the Iranian parliament on Wednesday. “It means no nuclear fuel will be produced and no new installations will be installed, but construction will continue there.” Zarif did not define what such construction would constitute.
The text of the Iranian nuclear agreement specifically states, “Iran announces that it will not make any further advances of its activities at the Natanz Fuel Enrichment Plant (1), Fordow (2), or the Arak reactor (3), designated by the IAEA as IR-40.” Furthermore, it continues, “Iran announces on concerns related to the construction of the reactor at Arak that for 6 months it will not commission the reactor or transfer fuel or heavy water to the reactor site and will not test additional fuel or produce more fuel for the reactor or install remaining components.”
The agreement does not prevent construction to continue in Arak, nor does it prevent off-site nuclear development for later use at the Arak facility.
This is just the latest signal from Iran that they have no intention of slowing their nuclear program, in contravention of President Obama’s starry-eyed promises regarding Iran’s supposed concessions on that score. On Tuesday, the Foreign Ministry of Iran ripped the White House’s interpretation of the nuclear deal, stating that the deal clearly comprehended that Iranian nuclear development would continue.
Ben Shapiro is Editor-At-Large of Breitbart News and author of the New York Times bestseller “Bullies: How the Left’s Culture of Fear and Intimidation Silences America” (Threshold Editions, January 8, 2013). He is also Editor-in-Chief of TruthRevolt.org. Follow Ben Shapiro on Twitter @benshapiro.
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