July 1, 2022 | Visual
Exploiting America’s Declining Pressure: Iran’s Nuclear Escalation Over Time
July 1, 2022 | Visual
Exploiting America’s Declining Pressure: Iran’s Nuclear Escalation Over Time
Iran’s nuclear advances have grown in scale and scope since it began overtly violating the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in May 2019. As the timeline below indicates, Tehran has made its most significant nuclear moves since the election of President Joe Biden, who has softened U.S. policy toward Iran and seeks re-entry into the JCPOA. Many of these steps, such as stockpiling and enriching uranium to 20 and 60 percent purity, producing uranium metal using highly enriched uranium, and operating advanced centrifuges, provide Iran with irreversible knowledge relevant to atomic weapons production. Tehran has also reduced International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) access and monitoring, leading to further diminished oversight of Iran’s expanding nuclear program. In addition to sanctions relief and the political humiliation of its adversary the United States, Tehran now appears to seek nuclear-threshold status, a position that may render other states unable or unwilling to prevent Iran from producing a nuclear weapon should it decide to do so.
Sources
Political Timeline:
Mark Landler, “Trump Abandons Iran Nuclear Deal He Long Scorned,” The New York Times, May 8, 2018.
Joe Biden, “There’s a smarter way to be tough on Iran,” CNN, September 13, 2020.
“Iran election: Hardliner Raisi will become president,” BBC (UK), June 19, 2021.
Nuclear Timeline:
Updated from version posted on Dec. 16, 2021.