Public sentiment regarding Iran's nuclear program is largely supportive of Iran's decision to challenge the IAEA and view it as a legitimate response to perceived Western biases and double standards. While there are calls for Iranian self-defense and withdrawal from international treaties, the opinion is nuanced, showcasing both strong support for Iran's actions and skepticism towards the motivations of Western countries and the IAEA. Overall, commentators emphasize national sovereignty and criticize the inequity in nuclear scrutiny.

Iran

IAEA

Israel

United States

This is called "Nuclear Ambiguity" is Iran pursuing a bomb? The Ayatollah has not ordered it, no. But they're building stockpiles of 60% Uranium (a short technical step from 90%), removing IAEA detection equipment from Arak, building nuclear-capable """""hypersonic""""" missiles, and repeatedly making vague threats of a nuclear saturation attack on Tel Aviv.

Delli-paper

This is helpful.  In regard to the funds, I understand that the US didn’t write a check to Iran, but unfreezing billions and allowing the worlds largest state sponsor of terrorism access to those funds is a questionable decision at best.   

I’d also point out that money is fungible so “restricting” the use of those funds doesn’t accomplish much in practice.

carneylansford

&gt; “Trump abandoned the nuclear deal in order to create unrest and chaos in Iran through economic and psychological pressure. As a result, Islamic Republic officials out of fear of domestic collapse will bow and accept talks.”

This is a serious and substantiated indictment of how we got to the position where we are today. Ripping up the deal Obama struck with Iran brings us directly to lack of JCPOA compliance.

apb2718

So if i'm not reading this wrong, the IAEA Director has stated both that Iran is and is not producing the materials needed to create nuclear weapons, and that we should be not concerned about the possibility Iran is making nuclear weapons, and also we should be concerned they are. 

Is this because of a change in leadership, corruption, manipulation? Especially as the IAEA Director has made statements recently, clearly during times where Israel was rumored to strike Iran, to deter it from happening?

Is there a reason why these statements have been so incredibly contradictory? Either way its clear Iran has been and is enriching weapons grade uranium, and this conversation about whether or not they are attempting to produce nuclear weapons is clear.

Free-Market9039

I'm old enough to remember when the Israel and the United States wrongly asserted Saddam Hussein was close to acquiring nuclear weapons.

IHerebyDemandtoPost

why does the IAEA go after iran so much when israel is completely off the hook.
has there been an official statement from the IAEA regarding that?

Mundane_Molasses6850

Anyone else wonder what IKEA had to do with this for second?

Bobinct

You seem to be missing one of the most important aspects of this: [The IAEA board declared Iran had breached its non proliferation obligations for the first time in 20 years.](https://www.reuters.com/world/china/iaea-board-declares-iran-breach-non-proliferation-duties-diplomats-say-2025-06-12/). It makes a lot of what the Director General and others have said ring a bit hollow since it indicates Iran is developing the capability of building an arsenal.

If you listen to Netanyahu’s justification, he never says that Iran has the bomb, rather they are at the point where they could easily put a bomb together within months. I think the main crux is that the fear wasn’t that Iran was far along to the point Israel could not delay or stop them getting the bomb as they have been able to in the past (this is why I find the “they’ve been saying this for decades” rhetoric a bit moronic: Israel has also done major sabotage attempts that have slowed down their nuclear capabilities as well for that amount of time.). It’s also reasonable that the fear may not even be so much that Iran builds a bomb, but that they produce enough that they are able to send uranium to their proxies, especially the Houthis who have ballistic missiles that could be armed with nuclear warheads. Post 10/7, I think Israel just isn’t willing to risk that.You can judge that as you will, but there’s a fair bit of geopolitics and power dynamics that make this more complex than it seems on the surface imo.

whereamInowgoddamnit

*“Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor admits that that Iranian leaders have never called for Israel to be “wiped” off the map”*

Even if they did suggest "wiping Israel off the map", I don't see why anyone should be critical of that.

If you invade a region, as the Zionists did in 1920, people tend to fight back.

See:

**Algeria** vs France 1830-1962

Vietnam vs France 1887 to 1954

Indonesia vs Netherlands 1600 to 1949

China vs Japan 1931 to 1945

Korea vs Japan 1905 to 1945

Philippines vs Japan 1942 to 1945

**Egypt** vs British Empire 1920

India vs British Empire 1757 to 1947

All the entities that are *after* "vs" in my above list?  They were "Wiped off the map." 

Here's another one:

American revolutionaries vs British Empire 1776

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balfour\_Declaration](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balfour_Declaration)

[https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-palestine-arab-congress](https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-palestine-arab-congress)

[https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/quot-the-iron-wall-quot](https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/quot-the-iron-wall-quot)

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White\_Paper\_of\_1939](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Paper_of_1939)

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish\_insurgency\_in\_Mandatory\_Palestine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_insurgency_in_Mandatory_Palestine)

Ornery_Cookie_359

\&gt;*“Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor admits that that Iranian leaders have never called for Israel to be “wiped” off the map”*

Selective quoting from 2012.  Your own source adds:

*come basically ideologically, religiously, with the statement that Israel is an unnatural creature, it will not survive. They didn’t say “we’ll wipe it out,” you are right, but \[that\] it will not survive, it is a cancerous tumor, it should be removed.*

Nothing to see here, Israel is just a "cancer" the "must be removed"?

Iranian policy is "Death to Israel".

jimbo2128

The IAEA have never indicated that Iran has been developing nuclear weapons. This is going on for decades. Every now and again the western world gets obsessed with trying to demonstrate that Iran are developing nukes. 

Would be great if the world would focus on prosecuting the actual nuclear armed state in the middle east - the one that has been ethnic cleansing for decades and carrying out a genocide for the last few years.

Background_Care4344

From Post:
~Israel has presented no credible evidence, per the IAEA this June.

~Last June, staff noted 90% enrichment as a benchmark for weapons grade. 

Iran does not appear to have 90% enriched uranium.  This may explain Iran's anger with the IAEA now, perhaps for not making their findings more clear or for being complicit in a farce.

UncleAlbondigas

Your post tells me that Trump ripping up the mutually agreed upon accord with Iran was reckless and idiotic.

Agreed.

scienceisrealtho

The only reason the US and israel are willing to bomb Iran is because they don't have nukes, which means they have every reason to build nukes as soon as they can. I can't blame Iran or any other country for wanting to have nukes. And I have no doubt Ukraine regrets giving up their nukes. No country will ever give up their nukes again.

cptbiffer

There are several more steps to go through before enriched uranium becomes a viable weapon. They have to make the detonation device, ruggedize it, develop and build the delivery system, etc etc etc. All of these things take time to build and indicates there’s no emergency necessitating this kind of sneak attack right before negotiations were to start.

Even if you think it’s worth it as a preventative step, it doesn’t justify violating Article 1 of the Constitution and subverting Congress’s war powers. Trump should be impeached and removed.

Dismal-Mycologist747

In theory, approximately 42 kilograms of 60% enriched uranium is enough to produce one atomic bomb if it is further enriched to 90%.

IAEA chief Matteo Grossi has previously said that Iran could make several nuclear bombs if it chose to do so.

Iran has repeatedly denied any intention of acquiring nuclear weapons, but the IAEA pointed out that no other non-nuclear state has enriched uranium to 60%.

# IAEA says Iran's cooperation 'less than satisfactory'

The nuclear watchdog also criticized Iran for its "less than satisfactory" cooperation in a separate in-depth report.

"While Iran continues to cooperate with the agency on matters of routine safeguards implementation, in a number of respects... its cooperation with the agency has been less than satisfactory," the report said.

"In particular, Iran has repeatedly either not answered, or not provided technically credible answers to, the agency's questions and has sanitised locations as listed in this report, which has impeded agency verification activities," it added.

Grossi said Saturday that he "reiterates his urgent call upon Iran to cooperate fully and effectively" with the IAEA's ongoing investigation.

# Why is the US seeking a nuclear deal with Iran?

Iran's nuclear program has been a major focus of US foreign policy for years.

The two sides reached an agreement in 2015 that saw the easing of US sanctions in exchange for limits to Iran's nuclear program.

This deal was torpedoed by President Donald Trump in his first term when he unilaterally withdrew from it.

Trump's second term has seen a renewed interest in finding a deal with Iran, causing tension with Iran's archrival Israel — itself believed to be a nuclear power.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office was quick to respond to the IAEA report on Sunday, saying it was a clear warning sign that "Iran is totally determined to complete its nuclear weapons program."

BakeDangerous2479

Gee, it's like we should have never pulled out of the agreement in 2018, huh? The IAEA doesn't have access so they really have no idea. It's a guess.

edit:  And no, I don't care. israel has them. every middle eastern country needs to be able to defend themselves, don't they? In a perfect world, nobody would have nukes.

Jollem-

Iran has had enough to build a bomb since 2023. Same old justification as any other year  
[https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2023/06/06/analysis-of-iaea-iran-verification-and-monitoring-report-may-2023/](https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2023/06/06/analysis-of-iaea-iran-verification-and-monitoring-report-may-2023/)

ManliestBunny

turkey0535

The country who bombed Iran broke the treaty you attempt to cite. Kind of stupid. 

Who are you to say Ian cannot have nukes? Seems to be the only thing keeping the USA from waltzing in and doing whatever they want.

[deleted]

Oh weird. The JCPOA was really effective. Do you know what happened to it?

MathTheUsername

They had uranium, but no nuclear weapons program. The attacks ruined all the progress we had with them.

DoubleDongle-F

The same IAEA said the strikes won't do much to slow Iran, and they actually advised a diplomatic solution.

There.

Kakamile

I think India and Pakistan having nukes is more problematic than Iran.

im_learning_to_stop

The USA bombed them first on their sovereign soil. We caused an Iranian 9/11.

igloohavoc

They either ignore it, or claim it is false. But if it is real, it isn't bad that Iran has nukes even though they want to kill everyone.

Lucky-Hunter-Dude

Then why didn’t they make one?  If they had made ones d detonated it no one would have bombed them. Not even Israel.  Pakistan has had nuclear bombs for 20 years.  They support the taliban.  No body ever bombed them.  You know why?  Because they had the bomb.  You think the Iranians are stupid that they don’t know that.  We should start thinking a little bit more critically.

WideManufacturer6847

I think one your your points is the big thing people are missing. Is Iran having enriched uranium illegal? It’s against an agreement, but we have significantly more enriched uranium than they do. 

The jcpoa was made to give Iran sanction relief in exchange for nuclear anti proliferation. Since they broke it, the response should be sanctions, not missile striking the country. 

Additionally, Israel escalated things here, and we need to dump them

Creative_kracken_333

Where’s that material now? How are we going to know without boots on the ground?

Ok_Ice_1669

We are not all experts on nuclear physics and what a country might or might not do with enriched uranium.

It is not for Israel or the US to decide (a) what Iran may or not be able to do with uranium or (b) to set a timeline on that. Gentle reminder that their actions have been utterly heinous and in violation of international law.

I'm not any more bothered about Iran having nukes than I am about any other country to be honest. When I see the way the US, Russia and Israel and other countries treat human life in other countries, and consider that these places are armed up with nukes, that is for sure frightening. At this stage, I don't know what Iran would want to do with nukes other than use them as a deterrent.

To be clear, I believe that this attack is purely because Israel sees this as good timing: they can't sink much lower in public opinion as their genocide in Gaza continues; Netenyahu thinks it's "now or never"; this is the ideal time for them to get the US to join the assault, etc. They have been saying for decades that Iran is developing nuclear weapons largely because ultimately they want Iran to be attacked and weakened as a regional power.

As others have pointed out, the irony is that if Iran were nuclear armed, they wouldn't be being attacked this way.

I have a genuine question: if Iran wanted nuclear weapons so badly all these years, why would they not just have acquired them from another country?

rdw204

Second Amendment issue. No guns for Iran while other Western nations are building bombs everyday.

Outrageous-Tell5288

OP clearly has a pro-MAGA agenda here, so there’s little point sharing logic that isn’t bound by such a bias with any expectation of impact. 

However, if we look at Trump’s own logic wrt having “cards”, we can see that without fissile material, Iran had no real leverage going into the negotiations that were prematurely interrupted by Netanyahu’s attacks. Our own intelligence community repeatedly asserted that Iran had no weapons intent. This assertion was validated by every other IC (friend and adversary, alike) except Israel who has been falsely claiming there’s a threat for twenty years. 

They have enriched uranium. Valid. But what did they intend to *DO* with it? We will never know for sure because we supported Netanyahu’s attacks TWO DAYS before they were to negotiate a new deal to replace the old one that Trump wiped his fourth point of contact with. 

What we do know is that Iran has the 16th most powerful military on the planet and operating on their own home turf. They have terrorist sleeper cells operating on American soil. And they are part of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (their version of NATO), meaning we may face China and Russia, among many others. Remember how we fared against Stone Age dirt farmers in Afghanistan? This was a stupid move, no matter how you try to MAGA-slice the facts. 

ᏃᏓᏥ ᎬᎨᏳ ᏂᎪᎯᎸ

Usgwanikti

So what?  Let them make their own nukes.  Israel has them, so why shouldn't Iran?  Clearly they need a deterrent for attacks from assholes like Israel and America.

HolymakinawJoe

remind me how many nukes does the US have? and who attacked ILLEGALLY another country. if anything we should be worried about Americans fat ass sitting on a big red button

darcksx

The people against the attacks are against them because Trump did them. 

The fact that Iran had the materials does not matter.

The fact that every modern president has ordered strikes without notifying Congress does not matter. 

The fact that this isnt a war does not matter. 

The fact that his actions are 100% legal does not matter.

The fact that Iran has been a state sponsor of terrorism since 1984 does not matter. 

All that matters is orange man bad. It's been the democratic parties sole platform for the last 8+ years. It's why the democrat party is falling apart.

harley97797997

Most of these people just reflexively hate anything Trump does because they don’t have free will.

A smaller amount do what Iran to get the bomb because they project their self hatred onto their own country

Abdelsauron

Yeah Trump said it all burned to crisp. Everything. Including the radiation.

TeoGeek77

Kruzdah

Can swear I remember US invading another country that sounds like Iran but ends with a q on completely made up bullshit.

nova9001

It's almost like...And hear me out...there were no nuclear weapons.

MagnusJim

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&gt;The national security committee of Iran's parliament approved the general outline of a bill meant to fully suspend Tehran's cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog, semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on, citing committee spokesperson Ebrahim Rezaei.

&gt;Rezaei said that according to the bill, installing surveillance cameras, allowing inspections, and submitting reports to the IAEA would be suspended as long as the security of nuclear facilities is not guaranteed. Parliament still has to approve the bill in a plenary.

!ping Middle-east&amp;Foreign-policy

IHateTrains123

It's ridiculous how much of this probably could have been avoided or at least significantly mitigated if Trump didn't cancel Obama's deal. Pretty much everything from the hardliners gaining more power in the regime, revving up funding, support &amp; coordination with proxy groups &amp; working with Hamas to carry out Oct 7th to disrupt the Israeli-Saudi normalization deal can all be traced back to the Iran deal being cancelled and the moderate wing getting sidelined.

Godzilla52

In that case there is no plausible way that they can keep their civilian nuclear program. This is the equivalent of exiting the NPT. 

Golda_M

This is why you don't tear up a deal because it was done by a guy you hate!!

abrookerunsthroughit

If it isn't the consequences of our actions.

omnipotentsandwich

When you're in a hole, the first thing you do, is to stop digging.

lAljax

They're going to try and speedrun a nuke now, aren't they?

importedreality

I don’t fully understand exactly how the Iranian government works, but I’m pretty sure that the IRGC and the people actually in charge could just ignore parliament on this if they wanted, regardless of the legalities.

But why would they? They have a popular mandate to take the hardline position.

Yeangster

Golly... The Iranians have been lying and playing the Europeans as fools. 

*The IAEA has concluded that "these three locations, and other possible related locations, were part of an undeclared structured nuclear programme carried out by Iran until the early 2000s and that some activities used undeclared nuclear material", the report said.*

I'm shocked.

BlueSkyd2000

Everyone knows the Iranians are lying. All of the "deals" that have been made are a way to save face and say they tried, while looking the other way. 

I just wish there were more honesty in the Iran nuclear conversation. The reality is Europe + USA don't care if Iran gets a nuke. But they also don't want to look like they don't care.

MrNardoPhD

Its worth mentioning that the original nuclear deal under Obama obligated Iran to come clean about its past nuclear activities, which it clearly never made even a real attempt at.

houinator

I read that IKEA report.  Didn't know they were selling centrifuges now.

InfiniteOrchardPath

I highly think that we will eventually bomb those facilities that is buried under the mountain where they enrich uranium.

If we don't i think Israel may do this themselves.

thebudman_420

After seeing Ukraine, I can’t say I blame Iran or any other country for racing to get a nuclear program.

Applespeed_75

Dammit...why did I only see IKEA when I read this title...

whoibehmmm

Iran's president has called for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to abandon its 'double standards' regarding its nuclear program amid escalating conflicts with Israel and the U.S.

Iran Nuclear Program and IAEA Relations

Why This Matters

Public Sentiment Summary

Highlighted Comments

Parties Involved

What the people want