While CNN and other leftist propaganda media outlets have insisted that the damage from the U.S. strikes on the Islamic Republic of Iran’s nuclear facilities did only glancing damage, Iranian officials themselves have been more honest. Two high-level officials have just admitted that the strikes did severe and extensive damage. That doesn’t mean, however, that the Islamic Republic is going to fold up its nuclear weapons program and rejoin the family of nations. On the contrary, they’re vowing to get their nuke program back on its feet and get it operating more quickly and efficiently than ever.
Islamic Republic spokesman Fatemeh Mohajerani admitted Tuesday that the three main targets of the American bombing, Iran’s nuclear development sites at Fordow, Isfahan and Natanz, had been “seriously damaged” in the bombings. Then on Thursday, the Islamic Republic’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Majid Takht-Ravanchi, said that the U.S. strikes had caused "serious damage," and termed them "a naked act of aggression."
A naked act of aggression, eh? Takht-Ravanchi didn’t mention anything in this connection about the fact that back in Nov. 2024, an Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps operative, Farhad Shakeri, was indicted for plotting to kill Trump. The deputy foreign minister was likewise mum about the fact that in Feb. 2023, Amir Ali Hajizadeh, head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps aerospace force, declared: “Allah willing, we are looking to kill Trump [and] Pompeo… and military commanders who issued the order should be killed.”
Nor did Takht-Ravanchi have anything to say about the fact that on Jan. 23, 2021, Ayatollah Khamenei’s official website “posted a photo-montage of former U.S. President Donald Trump playing golf under the shadow of a drone, vowing to avenge the assassination of Iran’s Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani.”
Iran’s Supreme Leader, the Ayatollah Khamenei, said in Dec. 2020: “Revenge is certain.” He added: “The assassin of Soleimani and the one who ordered the murder should be punished. As an esteemed person said, Soleimani’s shoe is worth more than the assassin’s head and even decapitation of the assassin will not compensate for Soleimani’s shoe; but they did the wrong thing. They should be punished. The one who ordered and the assassin should know that they should be punished at any time possible.” That threat appears to be still on the table, even as Takht-Ravanchi complains about “naked aggression.”
Takht-Ravanchi did hasten to assure the world that although Iran is going to continue to enrich uranium, it doesn’t want any trouble: “As long as there is no act of aggression being perpetrated by the United States against us, we will not respond again.” Regarding the prospect of reopening negotiations, he asked: “How can we trust the Americans? We want them to explain as to why they misled us, why they took such an egregious action against our people.”
Egregious? Really? In May 2015, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps’s Hossein Salami, who was killed in mid-June in an Israeli airstrike, said that Iran wanted war with the U.S.: “We welcome war with the US as we do believe that it will be the scene for our success to display the real potentials of our power.”
This imperative did not change over time. Eight years later, in a nationally televised address on Nov. 1, 2023, Khamenei declared: “The situation between America and Iran is this: When you chant ‘Death to America!’ it is not just a slogan – it is a policy.”
Related: Senior Iranian Cleric Issues Fatwa Permitting Muslims to Murder Trump and Netanyahu
Now, however, Takht-Ravanchi says: “We are for diplomacy. We are for dialogue. But the US government needs to convince us that they are not going to use military force while we are negotiating. That is an essential element for our leadership to be in a position to decide about the future round of talks.”
All right. But what about Iran’s pre-strike enrichment of uranium? Back in 2021, Rafael Grossi of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said that Iran was enriching uranium at 60 percent, and explained: “A country enriching at 60 per cent is a very serious thing — only countries making bombs are reaching this level. Sixty per cent is almost weapons grade, commercial enrichment is 2, 3 [per cent].”
Without referring to that, Takht-Ravanchi now says: "Our policy has not changed on enrichment. Iran has every right to do enrichment within its territory. The only thing that we have to observe is not to go for militarization." The Islamic Republic, he said, is now "ready to engage with others to talk about the scope, the level, the capacity of our enrichment program."
Great. But can the Islamic Republic be trusted?
