In recent days, the conflicts between Iran and the United States have increased with the possibility of breaking out into world war 3. However, fears of a possible all-out conflict have been raised as Iran’s parliament has now voted to double down on its nuclear program.
The parliament of Iran has now voted to increase the country’s annual enrichment of uranium by 20 percent as part of the Strategic Act to Revoke Sanctions. This vote follows the killing of the country’s top nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, with Iran pinning the blame on Israel. The vote also sees the approval of revitalizing the Fordow nuclear power plant while also adding the number of centrifuges that would be used in the enrichment of uranium. The parliament also voted to end the international inspections done by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
After Fakhrizadeh’s assassination, all members of the Iranian parliament signed off on a statement that condemned Israel for the scientist’s murder. They cited the country’s Zionist regime as the motive to kill Fakhrizadeh. They also accused the US of enabling Israel to make the move. The statement also noted that some members of parliament were described to have a “damaging way of thinking” towards the negotiations between the country and the West.
“But the experiences of terror and sabotage of the US, Israel, and other allies in the country in recent years, which have unfortunately gone largely without proportionate response, have shown how wrong and dangerous this way of thinking is,” said the statement.
Aside from rising tensions with Israel, the assassination of the nuclear scientist could potentially start a war between countries such as the US. Experts have now warned that this could be a big blow to incoming US president Joe Biden’s approach to foreign policy while being a threat to outgoing president Donald Trump in his last few months in office.
According to Guido Steinberg of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, negotiations between the incoming Biden administration and that of Tehran would prove to be even more of a challenge because of relations between Israel and the US at the moment. “I think the major reason now is that they still have the support of the Trump administration, politically and perhaps also operationally,” said Steinberg. “The Israelis want to make it as hard as possible for president-elect Biden to start negotiations with Iranians next year.”