Waltz: Iran Must Abandon All Nuclear Aspects; All Options Are on the Table

The White House National Security Advisor warned that Iran must either abandon all aspects of its nuclear program, including "missiles and enrichment," or face other consequences. Mike Waltz stated in an interview on CBS's "Face the Nation" on Sunday, March 17, referring to the warning from the President of the United States, that "Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon and all options are on the table." He added, "This includes all aspects of Iran's program; missiles, weapons, and enrichment. They can deliver and abandon it in a verifiable way, or they can face a series of other consequences." Mr. Waltz emphasized that there cannot be a world where "the ayatollahs' finger is on the nuclear bomb button." About a month ago, Mike Waltz also stated in an interview with Fox News that the Trump administration is only willing to negotiate with Iran if Tehran completely abandons its nuclear program. Donald Trump, the President of the United States, announced about ten days ago that he seeks to negotiate regarding Iran's nuclear program and stated that he sent a letter to the leader of the Islamic Republic. He also mentioned that "very, very soon things will happen" regarding Iran, "interesting days are ahead," and "we have reached the final moves." However, after that, Ali Khamenei rejected the proposal to negotiate with the current U.S. administration at least in three speeches. The Iranian Foreign Minister also stated that there will be no direct negotiations as long as the U.S. continues its "maximum pressure and threats" policy. Khamenei said that negotiating with this U.S. administration "tightens the knot of sanctions." Various speculations have been published regarding the content of the U.S. President's letter to the leader of the Islamic Republic. In this context, the spokesperson for the Islamic Republic's Foreign Ministry referred to these speculations on Tuesday but added, "We currently have no intention of publicly releasing Trump's letter." Despite Khamenei's rejection of the negotiation proposal, Ismail Baghai, the Foreign Ministry spokesperson, also stated that Iran will respond to this letter in the near future. He noted that "the essence of the letter does not differ much from Trump's public speeches and is based on those elements" and said, "Our response to this letter will be given through appropriate channels after completing the reviews." The Iranian Foreign Ministry announced last week that the letter from the U.S. President addressed to the leader of the Islamic Republic was delivered to Tehran by Anwar Gargash, the diplomatic advisor to the President of the United Arab Emirates. The Washington Post reported on Sunday that it seems Mr. Trump's demands go beyond the JCPOA agreement, which allowed Iran to enrich uranium up to 3.67%. However, Iran did not adhere to this ceiling and, after the U.S. withdrawal from the JCPOA, raised its uranium enrichment level to over 60%, which is very close to the level required for bomb-making. According to Brian Hughes, spokesperson for the White House National Security Council, "The Iranian regime must demonstrate that it has dissolved its enrichment and nuclear weapons program." Mr. Hughes wrote this in a written response to the New York Times' question about what conditions would lead to U.S. military action in Iran. He added that Donald Trump explicitly stated in his letter that there are two ways to deal with Iran: military or through an agreement. "We hope the Iranian regime prioritizes its people and interests over terror." In recent months, Iran has accelerated its process of accumulating uranium enriched to 60%, and according to the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, it has increased from 182 kg to 275 kg within three months. This figure is only the amount of uranium enriched to 60% that can quickly reach the 90% level needed for nuclear weapons. Rafael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, warned again on March 4 that Iran "is the only non-nuclear country enriching to this extent, and this is a serious concern for me." Iranian officials claim that Iran's nuclear program is peaceful and for non-military purposes; however, in the past year, some of them have spoken about the necessity of "changing the nuclear doctrine."