In recent days, the Biden administration’s top defense policy official
told Congress that it would take the Islamic Republic “about 12
days” to produce enough fissile material for a single nuclear bomb.
This doesn’t mean they’ll have a bomb next week - there are other
technological advancements that are required in order to put a nuke on
the tip of a missile - but needless to say, this news is not good. In
today’s Action Update, we delve into three storylines that inform this
new and frightening information.

**Russia-Iran Secret Nuke Deal**

When the Iran nuclear deal was agreed upon, one abysmal element was that
Russia was to hold onto Iran’s enriched uranium in order to control,
theoretically, the Islamic Republic’s access to such. Spoiler alert:
this was not a good idea. In fact, Western intelligence sources told Fox
News that Moscow and Tehran have a related secret side deal on this
matter.

The crux of the backroom agreement was that Russia would return the
fissile material to Iran should the nuclear deal fall apart. In other
words, Iran and Russia are now prepared to work together to maximize the
likelihood that Iran will acquire a nuclear weapons capability.

At the end of the day, Iran was going to push forward with such a
capability no matter what political agreements it made with the U.S. and
Europeans. But this latest news shows both how close the two of the
world’s most evil regimes have become, and how foolish it was to allow
Russia to serve as an integral part of any agreement with Iran. In a
nutshell, we’re concerned about this but we’re not surprised.

**U.S. – Israel on the Same Page**

Somewhat more surprising (and positive) is the news this week that
Israel’s Ambassador to the United States, Michael Herzog, told a
conference on Sunday that Washington’s and Jerusalem’s positions
concerning Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons are closer than ever
before.

According to Herzog, “We both agree that Iran is destabilizing the
region and we have to push back against them. The American strategy
focused for many years on reaching a deal with Iran, but today that deal
is off the table.”

Herzog also discussed the current state of the Iranian protest movement,
noting, “What we see in Iran today is a defining moment. We see the
foundations of the Islamic Republic shaking. The regime has lost the
people and we have to factor this into our strategic thinking on
Iran.” But more on that in a minute.

**Confronting the Threat**

Herzog’s comments come on the heels of the U.S. and Israel completing
“one of their most tactically involved joint exercises ever.”
According to Newsweek, during the last half of February, Israeli and
American troops practiced “fighting alongside one another at a time
when both sides faced heightened risks from insurgent groups in the
Middle East,” during an exercise dubbed Intrepid Maven.

In addition to military exercises with Israel, the U.S. is also planning
an anti-drone exercise with Saudi Arabia – which, like Israel, is
deeply concerned about the Iranian threat. Given Iran’s direct attacks
on Saudi facilities, it is natural and wise for Riyadh and Washington to
ensure that they can confront Iran’s suicide drones (the same ones
being used by Russia to obliterate Ukrainian civilians).

In a recent Action Update, we concluded by noting that if one wants
peace, they must prepare for war. We do not advocate for an American or
Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear weapons facilities (we’re humble
enough to admit that we don’t know what we don’t know and will thus
leave that decision to military planners and political decision makers).
But we are pleased to see that the latest moves from the Biden
administration indicate that they are beginning to understand what
Israel, Saudi Arabia, the U.A.E and numerous national security officials
have been saying for nearly a decade: only a credible military threat
will impact Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons.

Taken together, all of this information, including Herzog’s comment
about the Iranian protest movement, leave us with one simple yet vital
question: Will Iran acquire a nuclear weapon before the Iranian people
can overthrow the regime?

We don’t know the answer, but our role in this effort is clear. We
will be backing legislation, such as the Stop Iranian Drones Act, which
targets Iran both diplomatically and economically.  We will play our
part in working to ensure that Iran’s support for terrorism,
empowerment of mass murders, domestic repression, and nuclear weapons
advances are confronted with American pressure in all its forms.

Sincerely,

The CUFI Action Fund Team <https:[link removed]>

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