US using nuclear issue to demonize Iran, hinder its rapid progress: Analyst

A political analyst says the US and its European allies see Iran’s scientific progress, especially in the nuclear industry, as well as its defense power as a threat to themselves and are thus using the nuclear issue as a tool to demonize the Islamic Republic and hamper its growth.

In an interview with Press TV on Friday, Mostafa Khoshcheshm, a senior Iranian journalist and university professor, said the reason why the West is pressuring Iran is that the country is growing fast in many areas of science, including in the nuclear technology, and turning into a “role model” for other countries, particularly the developing ones.

The Islamic Republic “is establishing itself as a regional power,” something that greatly contributes to the country’s independence, Khoshcheshm said.

He said Iran is also ready to offer a helping hand to other nations in the area of science and technology, and that this means “the interests of colonial states and hegemonic states like the US and its European allies are felt in danger because they can see pretty well that Iran is a rising power in the region and its influence is growing all across the West Asian region.”

The analyst said the US has resorted to the “containment strategy” vis-à-vis Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution in order to “increase the costs” for the country’s growth in various fields such as the nuclear sector and missile power.

Khoshcheshm added that the US and its allies — unlike the Islamic Republic — have never been after conflict resolution with Iran, and that they seek agreements merely for the sake of containing Iran.

“That’s why they do not respect their undertakings. That’s why they have struck a deal, but they are not loyal to the deal,” said the analyst, referring to the multilateral nuclear agreement over the Iranian nuclear program, which the US abandoned about three years ago.

Following withdrawal from the deal, the US imposed the “toughest ever” sanctions on Iran. Toeing America’s line, the European signatories to the deal also let Tehran down as they failed to uphold their end of the bargain.

“If the US can harness and contain Iran’s growth in these [nuclear and military] areas, then they would go for…containing Iran’s laser industries, drone technology, nanotechnology, and many other areas that Iran has mastered or in which Iran is a pioneering state,” he said.

“They [the Westerners] are doing their best in order to harness Iran’s growth, and the area [where] they could demonize Iran better is the nuclear industries. That’s why they have focused on Iran’s nuclear power as a first step. In a second step, they would go after Iran’s military capabilities and then other areas of science and technology,” the commentator added.

Khoshcheshm said sanctions are the only “weapon” left in the hands of the United States vis-à-vis Iran after its military weapon “lost its effectiveness” and was defused by the Islamic Republic following a number of incidents, including the Iranian missile strike on the US-run Ain al-Assad air base in Iraq, under ex-president Donald Trump.

Currently, he said, the administration of new US President Joe Biden is facing a “dilemma” in its Iran policy.

On the one hand, Biden’s America knows that sanctions remain “the only weapon to pressure Iran,” although the sanctions are also losing their effectiveness.

The Americans want to keep the pressure on Tehran in order to push it into other deals and “complete this containment strategy that is comprised of multiple steps…aimed at containing Iran’s nuclear power, missile industries, and regional power,” the analyst said.

On the other hand, they are trying to encourage Iran to agree to get back to the nuclear deal, he said.

“It’s expected that the US would either try to keep at least the main sanctions over Iran, or they would remove the sanctions over the paper,” Khoshcheshm predicted.

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