US Administration Focuses on Supporting Iranian People, Not the Nuclear Deal

National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan. AFP
National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan. AFP
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US Administration Focuses on Supporting Iranian People, Not the Nuclear Deal

National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan. AFP
National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan. AFP

The Biden administration has launched high-level talks with representatives of US tech companies to discuss supporting the free flow of information to the Iranian people.

This came as State Department spokesman Ned Price declared that the administration is currently focusing on supporting the protesters and that the 2015 nuclear agreement with Tehran "is not our focus right now" after efforts to restore it reached another impasse.

Regarding the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Price said the Iranians have made it very clear that this is not an agreement they have been prepared to make, adding that "a deal certainly does not appear imminent. Iran's demands are unrealistic."

"Nothing we've heard in recent weeks suggests they have changed their position," noted the spokesman, adding that the administration's focus right now is the "remarkable bravery and courage that the Iranian people are exhibiting through their peaceful demonstrations, through their exercise of their universal right to freedom of assembly and freedom of expression."

In September, the US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, said about the nuclear talks that he does not see any "prospects in the very near term to bring this to a conclusion".

He accused Iran of adding extraneous issues to the negotiation that "we are simply not going to say yes. We will not accept a bad deal."

He added that the response they gave to the last proposals put forward by the European partners had been a very significant step backward.

Amid the stalemate, the Biden administration unveiled a series of measures to punish the Iranian regime for its suppression of the people.

-Sullivan denounces Raisi

For his part, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan asserted in a series of tweets that the US "stands with the Iranians."

"The world is watching what is happening in Iran," he said, referring to several protesters, including a young girl, who were shot dead. He condemned the statement of Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi, who compared protestors to "flies."

Sullivan indicated that these "protestors are Iranian citizens, led by women and girls, demanding dignity and basic rights." He vowed to support the protesters, adding that Washington would hold responsible those using violence in a vain effort to silence their voices.

- Internet access

Last month, the US issued a General License (GL) D-2 to increase support for internet freedom in Iran. The GLD-2 will expand the range of internet services available to Iranians and allow them to circumvent domestic internet controls.

During a roundtable discussion in Washington with global technology companies about increasing Iranians' access to communication tools, Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman stated that Iranian authorities had blocked access to the Internet amid violent protests and repression of the Iranian people.

"A lot of American technology companies are already providing new services to Iranians under the new license," she added.

She thanked the companies for taking the initiative to supply the tools, saying it is an opportunity to help connect the Iranian people to the Internet.

"As more technology companies offer them software, services, and hardware, the Iranian people's ability to communicate with each other and their digital ties to the rest of the world will strengthen. And it will become more costly for their government to sever access in the future," she said.

Sherman asserted that as more Iranians gain access to the latest software and services that meet global standards for digital security and anti-surveillance technologies, they can better protect themselves from government repression.



UN Nuclear Agency’s Board Condemns Iran for the 2nd Time this Year for Failing to Fully Cooperate

Secretary General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Mariano Grossi attends a press conference during an IAEA Board of Governors meeting at the IAEA headquarters of the United Nations seat in Vienna, Austria, 20 November 2024.  EPA/HEINZ-PETER BADER
Secretary General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Mariano Grossi attends a press conference during an IAEA Board of Governors meeting at the IAEA headquarters of the United Nations seat in Vienna, Austria, 20 November 2024. EPA/HEINZ-PETER BADER
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UN Nuclear Agency’s Board Condemns Iran for the 2nd Time this Year for Failing to Fully Cooperate

Secretary General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Mariano Grossi attends a press conference during an IAEA Board of Governors meeting at the IAEA headquarters of the United Nations seat in Vienna, Austria, 20 November 2024.  EPA/HEINZ-PETER BADER
Secretary General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Mariano Grossi attends a press conference during an IAEA Board of Governors meeting at the IAEA headquarters of the United Nations seat in Vienna, Austria, 20 November 2024. EPA/HEINZ-PETER BADER

The UN nuclear watchdog’s board on Thursday condemned Iran for failing to cooperate fully with the agency, the second time it has done so in just five months.
The International Atomic Energy Agency also called on Tehran to provide answers in a long-running investigation into uranium particles found at two locations that Tehran has failed to declare as nuclear sites.
Nineteen members of the IAEA board voted for the resolution, while Russia, China and Burkina Faso opposed it, and 12 abstained and one did not vote, according to diplomats who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the outcome of the closed-doors vote.
The resolution was put forward by France, Germany and Britain, supported by the United States. It comes at a critical time, ahead of Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
Trump’s first term in office was marked by a particularly tense period with Iran, when the US president pursued a policy of “maximum pressure” against Tehran. In 2018, Trump unilaterally withdrew America from Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers, and imposed even harsher sanctions that have since hobbled Iran's economy further.
The resolution comes on the heels of a confidential report earlier this week in which the IAEA said Iran has defied international demands to rein in its nuclear program and has increased its stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels.
That report, seen by the AP on Tuesday, said that as of Oct. 26, Iran has accumulated 182.3 kilograms (401.9 pounds) of uranium enriched up to 60%, an increase of 17.6 kilograms (38.8 pounds) since the last IAEA report in August. Uranium enriched at 60% purity is just a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%.
The resolution approved on Thursday requires the IAEA to now produce a “comprehensive and updated assessment” of Iran’s nuclear activities, which could eventually trigger a referral to the UN Security Council to consider more sanctions on Tehran.
In a joint statement issued after the approval of the resolution, the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran and the Iranian foreign ministry condemned the passing of the resolution, saying that Iran’s nuclear chief Mohammad Eslami has issued orders to launch new and advanced centrifuges, powerful machines that spin rapidly to enrich uranium.
In the past, the IAEA has named two locations near Tehran — Varamin and Turquzabad — where there have been traces of processed uranium, according to IAEA inspectors. Thursday’s resolution honed in on those locations, asking Tehran to provide “technically credible explanations” for the presence of the uranium particles at the sites."
The IAEA has urged Iran to also provide answers about the origin and current location of that nuclear material in order for it “to be in a position to provide assurance that Iran’s nuclear program is exclusively peaceful.”
Western officials suspect that the uranium traces discovered by the IAEA could provide evidence that Iran had a secret nuclear weapons program until at least 2003. Tehran insists its program is peaceful.
One of the sites became known publicly in 2018 after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed it at the United Nations and called it a clandestine nuclear warehouse hidden at a rug-cleaning plant.
Iran denied that, though IAEA inspectors later found the man-made uranium particles there.
While the number of sites about which the IAEA has questions has been reduced from four to two since 2019, lingering questions have been a persistent source of tensions.
On the subject of Varamin, the IAEA said that inspectors believe Iran used the site from 1999 until 2003 as a pilot project to process uranium ore and convert it into a gas form, which then can be enriched through spinning in a centrifuge. The IAEA said buildings at the site had been demolished in 2004.
Turquzabad, the second location, is where the IAEA believes Iran brought some of the material from Varamin amid the demolition, though it said that alone cannot “explain the presence of the multiple types of isotopically altered particles” found there.
Thursday’s resolution before the 35-member board at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna, called on Tehran to explain the presence of the uranium particles at Varamin and Turquzabad, inform the UN nuclear watchdog about the current whereabouts of that nuclear material, and grant access to IAEA inspectors to all Iranian nuclear locations.
A draft of the resolution was seen by the AP.
Tehran continues to maintain that its nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes and has told the IAEA that it has declared all of the nuclear material, activities and locations required under a so-called Safeguard Agreement it has with the IAEA.
Iranian officials have vowed to retaliate immediately if a resolution is passed. In the past, Tehran has responded to IAEA resolutions by stepping up its nuclear activities.
The resolution also requires IAEA director general Rafael Grossi to provide an updated assessment of Iran’s nuclear program — including the possible presence of undeclared nuclear material at the two locations — by spring 2025 at the latest.
The assessment could be a basis for possible further steps by European nations, diplomats said, leading to potential escalation in tensions between Iran and the West. It could also provide a basis for European countries to trigger sanctions against Iran ahead of October 2025, when the original 2015 Iran nuclear deal expires, the diplomats said.