“Facing unprecedented pressure, Iran uses its most reliable tool: Brutality,” Jason Rezaian, op-ed, Washington Post, September 4, 2020.
“Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile ’10 times limit’,” BBC, September 4, 2020. The IAEA reports that “Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile had reached 2,105kg (4,640lb) – well above the 300kg agreed in 2015. Iran insists its nuclear program is exclusively for peaceful purposes. It comes after Iran gave IAEA inspectors access to one of two suspected former nuclear sites. The agency said it would take samples at the second site later this month. Last year, Iran began deliberately and publicly reneging on commitments it had made under the international nuclear accord, signed in 2015 by Iran, China, France, Germany, Russia, the UK and the US. This included the production of more enriched uranium than it was allowed – although only at enrichment levels far below that required for use in atomic weapons. To manufacture a nuclear weapon, Iran would need to produce 1,050kg of 3.67% enriched uranium, but would then need to further enrich that to 90% or more, according to US-based advocacy group the Arms Control Association. Low-enriched uranium – which has a concentration of between 3% and 5% of the fissile isotope U-235 – can be used to produce fuel for power plants. Weapons-grade uranium is 90% enriched or more.”
“A new report by Javaid Rahman, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, reveals other dimensions of the crimes of the Iranian security forces. In a new report, the Special Rapporteur revealed that the Iranian government dealt violently with protesters over the high price of gasoline in November 2019, killing hundreds, detaining thousands, torturing them, and imposing harsh sentences. Execution sentences were also handed down by unjust courts. “The Special Rapporteur is alarmed by the unprecedented violent crackdown against protesters across the Islamic Republic of Iran in November 2019. Excessive force by State security forces has led to hundreds of deaths and injuries and thousands of arrests.” See “New Report by Javaid Rehman: Iran’s IRGC, Basij, and Police Opened Deadly Fire on Protesters,” Pooya Stone, Iran Focus, September 4, 2020.
Fishy with a capital F. The Romania prosecutor has irrationally decided that people who check out of a hotel but walk back to the top floor of their hotel will kill themselves. “Iranian judge in Romania committed suicide, prosecutors say,” Reuters, September 4, 2020.
“Iran says reissue of Prophet Mohammed cartoons is ‘provocation’,” AFP, September 4 2020.
“Iran Caught Stockpiling Enriched Uranium Needed for Bomb,” Adam Kredo, Washington Free Beacon, September 4, 2020. “Iran’s enriched uranium store “now exceeds by 10-fold the limit set in the [nuclear deal],” according to the Institute for Science and International Security, a nuclear watchdog group that has closely tracked the IAEA’s inspections. The group said “Iran’s estimated breakout time as of September 2020 is as short as 3.5 months.” “A new development is that Iran may have enough low enriched uranium to produce enough weapon-grade uranium for a second nuclear weapon, where the second one could be produced more quickly than the first, requiring in total as little as 5.5 months to produce enough weapon-grade uranium for two nuclear weapons,” the group said Friday.”