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Iran Nuclear Deal Tag

Iran will never build nuclear weapons because Islam forbids such a move, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said Tuesday. "It is us who, because of our religious views, will never pursue a nuclear weapon," Zarif remarked. The comments come as Iran speeds up its enrichment of uranium, bringing the Islamic Republic closer to building a nuclear bomb.

In recent weeks, Iran has escalated its confrontation with the United States as well as its malign activities in the Middle East. Earlier this month Iranian operatives attacked two tankers in the Gulf Oman.

President Donald Trump is continuing with his policy of "maximum pressure" on Iran, promising "major" sanctions on the regime. "We're putting additional sanctions on [Iran]," he told reporters before leaving for the Camp David. His administration was "moving rapidly" towards rolling out new sanctions, he added.

In a major shift, Germany has acknowledged Iran's involvement in the last week's attacks on two tankers in the Gulf of Oman. German Chancellor Angela Merkel declared that their was "strong evidence" that Tehran was responsible for the attacks on the tankers.

The British intelligence agency MI5 foiled a significant bomb plot linked to Iran-backed Hezbollah terror outfit, London-based Daily Telegraph disclosed. The British intelligence service and the Metropolitan Police uncovered a secret bomb factory in North West London in the autumn of 2015. They recovered thousands of packets containing ammonium nitrate, an explosive ingredient often used in homemade bombs.

The United States has sanctioned Iran's biggest oil company because of its links to the country's Islamic Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), a designated terrorist group. Tehran's Persian Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company (PGPIC) and its 39 subsidiaries have been providing "financial lifelines to the IRGC," the U.S. Treasury Department said.

Iran is close to reaching an oil sales deal with the European Union, in direct violation of the U.S. sanctions, Reuters reported. The EU and Iran were "on the brink" of an oil agreement, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Zarif confirmed Tuesday.

Commemorating Iran's National Nuclear Day, President Hassan Rouhani announced that the Islamic Republic would soon make advanced centrifuges operational, the Washington Free Beacon reported Thursday. Rouhani, according to the report, which was based on a translation by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), not only announced the installation of 20 IR-6 centrifuges but seemingly threatened, "If yesterday you feared our IR-1 centrifuges—well, here you go!" He also boasted that during the past year "we have acquired missiles and weapons that you could not have imagined."

Then-president Obama's Iran Nuclear Deal was widely condemned on the right and by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who referred to the deal as a "bad" and "very bad deal."  One of then-candidate Trump's campaign promises was to extract the the U.S. from this very bad deal, and he did so in the second year of his presidency. Much to the chagrin of Democrats, the DNC, and the former Obama administration, this withdrawal from the Iran deal has been far more successful in stopping Iran from obtaining nuclear capabilities and from sponsoring worldwide terrorism than the original, bad deal was sold to accomplish.

In what can only be described as another diplomatic victory for President Donald Trump's administration, European countries have stopped importing Iranian oil. The Iranian regime has admitted that European buyers have refused to touch Iranian oil despite temporary waivers extended to them by the United States. "No European country is buying oil from Iran except Turkey," Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said.

German authorities have banned the Iranian airline Mahan Air from operating in the country amid fears of espionage and terrorism.  Iran's second largest airline has been linked to regime's Islamic Revolutionary Guard, a U.S.-designated terrorist group. The German Federal Aviation Office, equivalent of the U.S. FAA, has barred the airline from landing in the country with intimidate effect, German news outlets reported Monday.

In what can only be described as another foreign policy win for President Donald Trump, the European countries are 'tiptoeing' towards Washington's position on Iran, Reuters reported Friday. Describing the recent shift in European diplomacy, the news agency noted that the "new approach moves Europe closer to U.S. President Donald Trump’s policy of isolating Iran with tough sanctions."