Iran could have made nukes years ago if it wanted: Marandi

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The Islamic Republic of Iran could have made nuclear weapons a year ago had it wanted to possess nuclear weapons, the advisor to the Iranian negotiating nuclear team Mohammad Marandi told RT on Friday, highlighting that Tehran has the capabilities to build a nuclear arsenal but refused to.

"Iran could develop a nuclear weapon. It has that capability. It has had that capability for many years now, but it has decided not to do so," Marandi stressed when asked what difference would it make if Iran joined the roster of countries and entities that have nuclear weapons.

"In fact, one good reason to show that Iran is honest and Americans are dishonest is that during the negotiations in Vienna, the Americans and Europeans were constantly saying that 'the Iranian nuclear program has advanced too far. There is no more time for negotiations; we have to finish the negotiations now and strike a deal, otherwise, it will be too late'," Marandi explained.

The Iranian advisor then went on to highlight how the West was "constantly making threats and warning the international community about the threat of the Iranian peaceful nuclear program."

"Ever since they left the negotiating table, they have stopped making all of these warnings, putting out these warnings about the Iranian nuclear program. They are saying nothing, they are focused on Ukraine now. So if the Iranian nuclear program was such a threat, we should constantly be hearing the same language coming out from Europe and the United States that there is some sort of imminent threat. There is none, because they were lying - we all know they are lying," Marandi noted.

"It is clear that the Iranian nuclear program was peaceful, but the Europeans and Americans were using the Iranian nuclear program as a means to isolate Iran, marginalize Iran, and to direct accusations against the country, as they do with regards to human rights [...] their antagony toward Iran is so immense that they will always find someway to demonize the country," he concluded.

Over the past year and a half, efforts have been mobilized to revive the JCPOA deal after then-President Donald Trump, with encouragement from then-Israeli occupation Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, had America withdraw from it in 2018 - stating that the agreement was "a horrible one-sided deal that should have never, ever been made," claiming that "it didn't bring calm, it didn't bring peace, and it never will."

The original JCPOA was signed in 2015 by China, France, Germany, Iran, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, as well as the European Union.

However, just weeks after the deal seemed to have died, the EU put forward on August 8 what it called a final text to restore the agreement, in which Iran would see sanctions relief and be able to sell its oil again in return for severe limits on its nuclear program.

In an interview with Foreign Policy in late November, US special envoy for Iran Robert Malley said that Iran is "only a few weeks" away from enriching the fissile material needed to develop a nuclear weapon.

The US envoy seems to insist that the Islamic Republic is keen on acquiring the weapon despite that Iran has several times expressed in the past that it is in no way part of its military agenda.

Malley further stated that such a situation has ensued due to the reckless decision of former US President Donald Trump to pull out of the JCPOA agreement. 

Meanwhile, it was revealed days ago that US President Joe Biden declared on the sidelines of a November 4 election rally that the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran is "dead," according to a new video that surfaced on social media, but stressed the United States won't announce it.

This counts as the Biden administration's strongest confirmation that there's no path forward for the Iran deal, which leaves key questions about the future of the JCPOA.