By their own admission, Iran has now stockpiled more low-enriched uranium than permitted under the terms of the 2015 nuclear peace deal negotiated by the Obama administration.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which previously reported that Iran was abiding by the terms of the deal, has also confirmed that Iran has now violated the terms.
The U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which monitors Iran’s nuclear program under the deal, confirmed in Vienna that Tehran had breached the limit. [...]
Iran has said it aims to do so but cannot do so indefinitely, as long as sanctions imposed by Trump have deprived it of the benefits it was meant to receive in return for accepting curbs on its nuclear program under the deal.
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Iran had passed the threshold, exactly as it had warned it would: “We have said very transparently what we will do.”
You're going to see a lot of headlines referring to this as the 'first violation of the deal,' but that's misleading at best.
The truth is Trump violated the deal more than a year ago when he withdrew from the agreement and reimposed sanctions on Iran's economy even though Iran was still complying with the terms of the deal. Iran continued to comply with the terms of the deal even after Trump reimposed sanctions and today marks their first violation of the terms.
It's not as if I desire to take Iran's side on the matter, but given the facts of the case, how could you not? Iran agreed to continue complying with the terms of the Obama administration's deal under assurances from the European Union (EU) that they could protect European and Iranian businesses from the Trump regime's sanctions, but the EU was not able to secure as much business as they hoped to. And at this point, Iran has little if any incentive to continue honoring the deal. Why should they?
I don't know what's going to happen next, but if this leads to an arms race in the Middle East, a limited conflict or a wider war, it will be Trump's fault.
The Trump regime could end with both Iran and North Korea in possession of nuclear weapons.