Iran’s government says its nuclear program is only pursuing civilian goals. It refers to a religious decree by Head of State Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, which prohibits the construction and use of weapons of mass destruction such as nuclear bombs. However, critics are concerned that Iran has enriched uranium to a purity level of 60 percent in recent years.
According to Western information, the Islamic Republic is the only state in the world without its own nuclear bombs that has such highly enriched uranium. Further enrichment to a good 90 percent would be required to build nuclear weapons.
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, has also expressed criticism of Iran’s nuclear program in the past and called for better access to the country. He is involved in the current nuclear negotiations. In an interview with CNN, he named key points of contention: how to deal with the highly enriched uranium remaining in the country, of which there are said to be more than 400 kilograms; It is also about the future of the central nuclear facilities that were bombed last year, as well as future nuclear activities in Iran, which are to be strictly monitored by the IAEA.
In 2015, Iran had already committed to restricting its nuclear program. In return, sanctions should be lifted. The Vienna nuclear treaty, which was negotiated under his then predecessor Barack Obama, was always a thorn in Trump’s side. In 2018 – during his first term in office – he unilaterally terminated the agreement. At the same time, he imposed new and tougher sanctions against Iran. As a result, the Iranian leadership no longer adhered to the requirements.
In the summer of 2025, Israel waged war on Iran, bombing targets across the country. Iran’s air force then fired ballistic missiles at Israel. Civilian areas also came under fire in both countries.
The USA intervened in the war just over a week later. The target of the military operation called “Midnight Hammer” was the enrichment facilities in Natans and Fordow as well as a nuclear facility in Isfahan. At the time, Trump spoke of a complete destruction of the facilities.
The war surprisingly began just one day before the sixth scheduled round of negotiations between Iran and the USA. It once again shook the Iranian leadership’s confidence in talks with Washington.
