Iran rightful to scale up JCPOA remedial steps after Natanz sabotage attack: Analyst

A political commentator says the recent act of sabotage at Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility gives Iran the right to remarkably increase the remedial measures it has taken in the wake of United States’ unilateral withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal and the re-imposition of sanctions.

“I think it’s what Iran should be doing right now. They have so far been strengthening their nuclear program and are not going to back down, because Iran has done nothing wrong,” Jackson Hinkle said in an exclusive interview with Press TV on Wednesday.

He was referring to a recently-announced decision by Tehran to enrich uranium up to 60% purity in reaction to the suspected Israeli act of sabotage that caused a power outage at the Natanz uranium enrichment facility on the weekend.

The analyst added that the administration of former US president Donald Trump had no reason to pull out of Iran deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), as it did on May 8, 2018.

“The US...should never get to demand a gesture of goodwill asking Iran to rejoin the deal, while still having its sanctions in place. The United States was the one who violated the Iran deal in the first place,” Hinkle noted.

The analyst said current US President Joe Biden needs to offer an official apology to Iran, remove sanctions imposed on the Islamic Republic, and honor the country's commitments under the JCPOA.

“The United States should also be providing some form of compensation or reparations for what Iran went through over the last two years or so, as the entire [Iranian] economy has been crippled and people are dying of preventable diseases because of a medical blockade,” he pointed out.

Hinkle, however, expressed doubt that the Biden administration would take any measures to remove the anti-Iran sanctions and rejoin the JCPOA.

“Biden is currently prioritizing a long-standing damaging relationship with Israel over revival of the Iran deal. Israel would prefer to see Iran’s economy much more crippled than what it already is, and wishes for the people to starve and for treatable diseases to spread rapidly because of the medical blockades that the United States has imposed [against Tehran],” the commentator said.

It is a good thing that Iran is not only rebuilding but also bolstering its nuclear program and capabilities, and that "should be applauded in the face of this egregious US warmongering,” Hinkle added.

Hinkle also criticized Washington’s double standards toward nuclear proliferation, the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in particular.

“I think it can best be understood by looking at and analyzing their exemption of Israel from the US law, specifically the Symington Amendment [of 1976],” he pointed out.

The Symington Amendment prohibits most US foreign aid to any entity found trafficking in nuclear enrichment equipment or technology outside international safeguards. Israel has never signed the NPT or subjected its nuclear weapons facilities to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspections.

Estimates of Israel's stockpile range between 80 and 400 nuclear warheads.

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