“We are inevitably taking the fourth step tomorrow,” the Iranian regime’s President Hassan Rouhani stated during his speech at the inauguration ceremony of Freedom Innovation factory in Qom Province on November 5. Two days earlier, the head of AEOI Ali Akbar Salehi asserted that the regime had put 30 more advanced centrifuges into use.

the Iranian regime’s steps of breaching the 2015 nuclear deal

During his speech in Qom, Hassan Rouhani explained, “We have taken three steps of reduction our obligations so far… In the first step; there was a restriction about the scale for storing enriched uranium based on the agreement [2015 Iran nuclear deal]. We used to sell the surplus of 300 kilograms enriched uranium to others, but, at the first step, we refused that restriction and announced that from now on we will store whatever we enrich and won’t sell an extra amount more… Second step; we defied another restriction about the degree of enrichment and told whatever the country needs we enrich uranium; however, it was 4%, 5%, more or lesser, and we have not committed to only enrich 3.67%… Third step; we had accepted a framework about [nuclear] research and development. For example, we had to wait some years to use 30 centrifuges and some while later for using a complete chain; we refused [the restriction] and declared that we are free to produce each centrifuge we need and we inject uranium gas as much as we want.”

On Wednesday, Iranian officials announced that they began the fourth step of breaching the nuclear deal by injecting uranium gas into the more than 1,000 centrifuges in Fordow facility located in the north of the holy city of Qom.

Fordow Facility

As a covert uranium enrichment facility, Fordo, discovered by the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) for the first time. At a press conference in Paris on December 20, 2005, the chairman of the foreign affairs committee of the NCRI Mohammad Mohaddessin provided details about a secret nuclear facility and an underground tunnel used for nuclear projects in the vicinity of Qom Province. Mr. Mohaddessin explained that the construction work had been started in 2000 by a specialist engineering division of the Islamic Republic Guards Corps (IRGC). The AEOI primarily denied the existence of the Fordow facility. However, later it acknowledged the existence of Fordow to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) after the nuclear secret site was announced by Barack Obama, Gordon Brown, and Nicolas Sarkozy in a joint press conference on September 25, 2009.

While Iranian authorities claim that their nuclear program pursues technologic and scientific developments, but they do not respond why hold a technologic and scientific site covert until it has been discovered and exposed by dissidents? The reality is the Fordo facility is buried under a mountain and protected by anti-aircraft batteries. Therefore, the word and practice of Iranian officials are absolutely contradictory.

A long-time background of deception

The Iranian regime has a horrible record of deceiving its counterparts. On March 5, 2006, Sunday Telegraph disclosed that in a public speech, Hassan Rouhani had “revealed how Teheran played for time and tried to dupe the West after its secret nuclear program was uncovered by the Iranian opposition in 2002.”

In an interview with Channel 4 State TV On January 22, Salehi admitted that his government had deceived the P5+1, saying, “The tubes that the fuel goes through them there, we had bought similar tubes previously, but I could not declare them at the time, only one person knew about it in Iran… We had to work smartly and intelligently, in addition to not breaking the bridges behind us, we also had to build a bridge that would enable us to go faster if we were to go back… We had bought similar tubes, the same quantity, we were told to fill the main tubes with cement, so we poured cement in those tubes … but we did not say that we had other tubes because if we did, they would have said, sir, pour cement in those as well … We are going to use the same tubes now. Now we have those tubes.”

In conclusion, the truth is that as the tensions are escalating between Iran and the international community, Iranian officials attempt to intimidate their counterparts through saber-rattling. Authorities pursue to insinuate to the Iranian people that they control the situation. In fact, they would like to use aggressive gestures for internal purposes such as discouraging the fed-up people about following their rightful protests and reviving the spirit of the members of IRGC, Basij forces, and the other parts of oppressive apparatuses. However, it seems that the Iranian regime’s long policy to terrorize its counterparts solve its crises no more. Therefore, the Iranian officials’ move to reduce their obligations about the JCPOA is more akin to shooting themselves in the foot. This ironic move leaves the regime alone in face of looming crises.