Iran resumes uranium enrichment
Iran has officially resumed enriching uranium. The leaders of the Islamic Republic on Wednesday called the measure a "fourth step" on Iran's announced policy of renouncing obligations pursuant to the nuclear agreement of 2015 after the US's withdrawal from the deal. European papers voice concern over Iran's confrontation course.
Like a new cold war
The West now finds itself in the midst of a new, multilateral arms race, writes editor-in-chief Maurizio Molinari in La Stampa:
“The second cold war has taken the West by surprise. It is radically different from the first because there are no longer just two protagonists but many, the weapons are no longer nuclear but digital, and the confrontations are no longer frontal but asymmetrical and hybrid. ... Putin's dream of the revival of the Russian empire, Xi's plans for a 'New Silk Road' that turns Europe into a Chinese market, Iran's aspirations to become a nuclear power while spreading its hegemony across entire Middle East, and the nuclear destruction with which Kim Jong-un is threatening his neighbours are all part of a siege that makes it difficult for democracies to react simultaneously to very different challenges.”
The nuclear deal is finished
There is no sign of a solution to the problem with Iran's nuclear programme, Der Standard laments:
“The opponents of the Vienna nuclear convention have always thought little of its effectiveness in preventing Iran from [attaining new technological] milestones for years to come. The proponents never thought of it as the Holy Grail but as a temporary solution to a problem that was acute at the time. ... Almost all escalation stages - except for a military strike the idea of which US President Donald Trump abhors - have been exhausted. But even the states that want to stick to the deal, above all the EU-3, Germany, France and the UK, are at their wits' end: sooner or later they will have to take action in the face of the Iranian violations. Trump will no doubt be pleased about that. But it's not a solution to the problem with Iran's nuclear programme.”