To know more about the recent developments and ongoing Us-Israeli aggression on Iran, TABNAk reached out to TABNAK reached out to Tareq Rauf, former head of the Transparency Department of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Following is the full text of his comments:
According to some reports, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner (US representatives in negotiations with Iran) were among the main factors pushing Trump to war with Iran. It is said that they did not have accurate information about the nuclear concessions that Iran had offered. This is while, according to some reports, the reason for the Omani Foreign Minister's visit to the US after the third round of negotiations was the Omani Foreign Minister's perception that Witkoff and Kushner had not conveyed the correct information to Trump. What is your assessment of this issue? Were the negotiations a political gesture by the US or was incorrect information conveyed to Trump?
Both these individuals are in reality agents of Israel, they mislead Trump. Twice they have betrayed Iran with fake negotiations only to be attacked.
Despite the renewed US and Israeli attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities and even attacks on the Bushehr reactor, the International Atomic Energy Agency has taken no action to condemn these attacks. On the other hand, Iran has also announced that it is considering withdrawing from the NPT. Why has the Agency not condemned these attacks?
IAEA DG Grossi has criticized the attacks but the Board has failed to condemn the attacks unlike it did for Ukraine.
Iran and the US are negotiating. Trump has announced that he has postponed the attack on Iranian power plants to assess the outcome of the negotiations. Is he simply trying to buy time, or could the war end with a deal? Is there military solution for this war?
There is no military solution, Trump concerned by rising petrol/diesel prices in the US has postponed attacks on Iran's electricity generating plants and may have been influenced by the [p]GCC States to do so fearing retaliatory attacks on them by Iran?
Do you think the US could remove highly enriched uranium (60%) from Iran through a special operation?
Removing HEU is no easy task. It requires specialized transport casks etc. Provided the HEU can be located in bombed sites, destroyed or damaged cylinders need to take care of. There is no option for a landing team to come in and fly out with the uranium. See: Is There a Way to Rebuild IAEA Safeguards in Iran? Arms Control Association. The IAEA is not capable of executing such a mission, which will take weeks if not months, a lot of equipment, specialized nuclear workers, etc.
Finally, do you think it is possible for the US to continue the war and even seize some Iranian islands in the Persian Gulf? If so, what would be the consequences for the US?
Yes, the US could seize the three islands claimed by the UAE, and also Kharg and Kish. However, holding on to them will be costly and even impossible. Iran may end up closing Hormuz and Houthis Bab el Mandeb. Then the US and the West will be in deep trouble.
