Investigative Timeline of Iran’s Nuclear Program, Trump, and Israel

Transcript of Richard Medhurst’s detailed YouTube video, published the day before the USA bombed Iran. Medhurst is the only independent journalist to cover the Iran nuclear deal on the ground in Vienna and IAEA/UN. This is his full story about Iran’s nuclear program and who sabotaged diplomacy.

Summary Timeline

• July 2015: Iran Nuclear Deal (JCPOA) signed in Vienna.
• May 2018: US unilaterally withdraws from the JCPOA and reimposes sanctions on Iran.
• May 2019: After a year of compliance, Iran announces a phased withdrawal from JCPOA commitments.
• July 2019: Iran begins enriching uranium to 5% and exceeds 300kg UF6 stockpile limit.
• September 2019: Iran activates IR-4 and IR-6 centrifuges, lifts limits on R&D.
• November 2019: More IR-6 centrifuges come online; Fordow facility begins 4.5% enrichment; Iran exceeds heavy water limit.
• January 2020: US assassinates General Qassem Soleimani; Iran ends JCPOA centrifuge cap and votes to halt IAEA cooperation.
• July 2020: Israel bombs Natanz nuclear facility.
• November 2020: Israel assassinates nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh; Iran begins enriching to 20% and blocks IAEA snap inspections.
• February 2021: Iran suspends the Additional Protocol and snap inspections; agrees to black box camera deal with IAEA.
• April 2021: Indirect Iran-US nuclear talks resume in Vienna; Israel sabotages Natanz again; Iran responds by enriching to 60%.
• June 2021: Israel bombs Karaj nuclear facility.
• November 2021: Negotiations resume in Vienna.
• February 2022: Russia-Ukraine war begins; Vienna nuclear talks collapse.
• June 2022: IAEA Board of Governors passes motion against Iran; Iran turns off voluntary cameras.
• June 2023: Indirect talks in Oman; IAEA closes cases on Fordow and Marivan.
• September 2024: IAEA and E3 estimate Iran has enough 60% enriched uranium for four bombs if enriched to 90%.
• October 2024: IAEA Director Grossi visits Tehran; Iran pauses enrichment, offers full cooperation. Board of Governors censures Iran; Iran resumes enrichment.
• 12 June 2025: IAEA issues report accusing Iran of violating NPT for the first time in 20 years.

The Iranians tried every step of the way to placate and appease the Americans. And all the Americans did is jerk them around. And then Donald Trump has the balls to say, “I gave them 60 days.” Iran gave him seven years! It’s been seven goddamn years since 2018, since he ripped up the nuclear deal. And every step of the way, the Americans, the Israelis, and their allies have sabotaged diplomacy.

And here’s the proof: the Iran nuclear deal was signed here in Vienna in 2015. It’s called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA. The Iranians were in full compliance—those are not my words, they’re the IAEA’s. Then, after three years, in May 2018, Donald Trump quits the agreement, and he reimposes sanctions on Iran.

And so, for a whole year after that—for a whole year—what do the Iranians do? They’re still in full compliance. As a gesture of goodwill, in good faith, they keep applying the agreement. For a whole year. Can you imagine? You sign a contract with someone, they rip it up, and then you keep following the contract for an entire year. That shows how much the Iranians wanted to save the agreement, which capped uranium enrichment at 3.67%.

So we get to May 2019. The Americans still won’t come back to the agreement. So Iran announced a partial withdrawal. They say, “You know what? Every 60 days that the United States doesn’t lift sanctions, we’re going to reduce our commitments under the nuclear deal.” In the JCPOA, it literally says under Articles 26 and 27 that if the United States leaves the deal and reimposes sanctions—which is precisely what Trump did—Iran is not obliged to follow the agreement anymore. That’s normal.

And so the first step the Iranians take is to stop exporting their stockpiles of highly enriched uranium. July 2019—60 days have passed—the Americans won’t get back in the deal. Iran begins enriching uranium from 3.67% to 5%. Their stockpiles of UF6—so that’s hexafluoride, uranium hexafluoride gas—those stockpiles go past the 300 kg limit. Civilian use is 3.67%, okay? 5% is hardly that much further away. Nothing wrong with that.

And the Iranians say, “Look, every 60 days you don’t get back in the deal, we’re going to keep doing this. Because we’ve already waited a year, and we didn’t do anything differently. We waited a whole year for you to get back in the deal.” It’s a negotiation tactic. It’s meant to put pressure on the Americans. It’s leverage. It’s not because they want to build a bomb—they just want sanctions relief.

September 2019: another 60 days go by. Americans still won’t get back in the deal. Trump won’t lift the sanctions. So the Iranians say, “Okay, we’re going to bring advanced IR-4 and IR-6 centrifuges online, and we’re going to lift the limits that we placed on our research and development—R&D—of our advanced centrifuges.”

So centrifuges are basically these metal tubes that enrich uranium gas. They spin at a very high velocity.

November 2019: another 60 days go by. The Americans still don’t get back in the deal. What do the Iranians do? They bring more IR-6 centrifuges online. The Fordow facility, which is one of the facilities they’re trying to bomb right now—which is very deep in the mountains—that one begins enriching uranium to 4.5%. Before that, it was mainly being done at Natanz, which is the main enrichment site.

Two weeks later, the Iranians exceed the 130 metric ton limit on heavy water that was originally imposed by the JCPOA. But again, they’re no longer bound by the deal.

January 2020: another 60 days go by. What does Donald Trump do? He goes and assassinates General Qassem Soleimani. He tricks him into coming to Baghdad for peace talks. Sound familiar? Pretending to engage in diplomacy—and then assassinates him in a drone strike.

So after two days, the Iranians say, “All right, you’re out of your mind.” The Iranian parliament passes a bill to end cooperation with the IAEA. Now that bill was not ratified; however, the Iranians do remove the cap on the number of centrifuges that was originally placed by the JCPOA, which capped it at 5,060. So more centrifuges, more cascades—which are groups of centrifuges—are installed, and they begin enriching uranium at higher speeds and higher quantities.

Once again—tit for tat. It’s not out of nowhere or out of the blue. It’s always in response to Israeli and American aggression.

July 2020: Israel bombs the Natanz nuclear facility. They sabotage it with explosives.

November 2020: Mohsen Fakhrizadeh—who’s considered the head of Iran’s nuclear program—is assassinated outside of Tehran by Israel, with Donald Trump’s blessing. The Iranians say, “Okay, you know what? Screw you. We’re going to pass a bill in the Iranian parliament to block snap inspections by the IAEA, and we’re going to enrich uranium now—not to 4.5%, not to 5%, but to 20%.”

Again—tit for tat. You kill the head of our nuclear program, we’re going to enrich uranium up to 20%. And what is the condition? They say, “We’re going to do this unless you give us sanctions relief—especially on the banking sector, particularly from the European Union and the E3.” That’s Germany, UK, France—who are all parties to the nuclear deal.

Even after the West have blown up Iran’s nuclear facilities, murdered their top military commanders and nuclear scientists, the Iranians are still trying to engage in diplomacy, saying, “Look, we can fix this. All you have to do is lift the sanctions.”

So again—look at the level of leniency, of mercy, of goodwill, of good faith, of that willingness to engage in actual diplomacy after everything that’s happened. Other countries would have gone to war at this point already.

February 2021: still no sanctions relief. So the Iranians suspend the Additional Protocol—the AP—and they end snap inspections. Now remember, the Iranians haven’t just signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty—which is the NPT—they’ve also signed the Additional Protocol, the AP. They’ve also signed the JCPOA. That’s three bloody deals. The NPT would have been enough on its own; they didn’t need to do the others. And even the NPT—they can withdraw from. And as a matter of fact, they’re threatening to do that right now in response to Israel’s war.

So in February 2021, Iran—despite pulling out of the AP or ending the snap inspections—they strike a black box agreement with the IAEA. They say, “Look, we’re not going to let you live stream from the facilities anymore. Because yeah, Iran put cameras that the IAEA could watch all the way in Vienna. They had special tamper-proof seals on equipment and meters—the works—in addition, of course, to the snap inspections, right? But they say, ‘We’re not going to let you live stream anymore. We’ll keep the cameras recording, and then we’ll put the footage in a black box and give it to you after three months—once you get Iran sanctions relief. If you don’t get the West to lift sanctions, then you don’t get the footage. We’ll destroy it.'”

Now, as far as I know, despite the fact the West never lifted sanctions, the Iranians have not destroyed any of that footage in the end. Which goes to show you, once again, how lenient the Iranians have been and how much they tried to get the Americans back into the JCPOA—which capped their nuclear program at 3.67% enriched uranium.

April 2021: Iran and the US begin indirect negotiations in Vienna. I covered those in detail. What do the Israelis do during the negotiations? Sound familiar? They go and bomb Iran’s nuclear facility at Natanz. This is an old tactic. The Americans are running cover, pretending to engage in diplomacy. The Israelis go and bomb. They do good cop and bad cop.

So they cut the power supply to the cascades, and then they cut the backup generators as well. And when they do that, of course, the centrifuges — which are spinning very, very fast — have no time to cycle down and properly evacuate the hexafluoride uranium gas — the UF6 gas. So they snap. They break.

What do the Iranians do? They replace the broken centrifuges with 164 IR-6 centrifuges at Natanz, and they begin enriching uranium to 60%. Again, tit for tat — a direct consequence of Israeli aggression and America’s unwillingness to get back in the deal. A pressure tactic.

So the Iranians are saying, “Look, we’ve gone from 3.67 to 4.5% to 5% to 20% to 60%, and you’re still on the link. So now we’re at 60, and now we’re going to expand the stockpile of 60% enriched uranium.”

I know this by heart, ’cause I covered this for years. So it’s extraordinarily frustrating watching these lie about Iran wanting to build a bomb. No, there is no bomb. There is no weapons program. The reason we are at this stage is because of Israel and America. And even then, even now, there is no proof of a weapons program.

All right, June 2021: Israel bombs the Karaj nuclear facility. It’s never-ending, is it?

November 2021: negotiations are back on in Vienna. I interviewed the chief negotiator of the Iranians, the Russians. I interviewed Professor Marandi. It’s all in a playlist on YouTube. They seem to be going well.

And then in February 2022, the Ukraine war breaks out. Talks break down. They were this close to signing a deal, and then the nuclear talks just break down.

June 2022: the Board of Governors — which is held quarterly at the IAEA — it’s basically made up of UN member states. They make up the board. They pass a motion against Iran. What happens? Again, tit for tat. The Iranians go, “Well, screw you. We’re going to turn off some of the cameras now.”

These cameras were installed voluntarily. They are not part of the NPT. They are not part of the AP. They are not part of the JCPOA. Iran is under no obligation to have them in the first place. They were not part of any agreement.

So once again, as a pressure tactic — a negotiation tactic — the Iranians say, “You want to keep attacking us diplomatically, militarily? We’re going to turn off the cameras.”

But of course, the Western media won’t tell you that. You go read Reuters and all that garbage and they’ll tell you, “Oh yeah, Iran is blocking the inspectors and all this stuff.”

June 2023: fast-forward a year. You’ve got indirect talks in Oman, trying to revive the deal. You know the Americans are just wasting time.

And here’s what they won’t tell you: the IAEA closes cases on Fordow and Marivan. So these are two nuclear sites in Iran, because they always said, “What are the trace amounts? Why are there these particles of highly enriched uranium over there? What were you doing?” And you know, they would use it to bollock Iran around, essentially. And so these trace amounts were there. They’ve been there for decades. They predate Iran’s recent nuclear commitments. So they were just using it to give Iran a tough time.

But even then, the IAEA say, “We’re done. We have no more questions. These cases are closed.” Right? But they won’t tell you that either.

September 2024: the IAEA and the E3 — so that’s Germany, UK, France — estimate that if Iran has enough 60% enriched uranium, if they further enrich it to 90% — which is weapons-grade — well, they could theoretically build four nuclear devices.

Yes, theoretically. If I laid an egg, I’d become a chicken. I mean, what is this ridiculous hypothesising? 60% is 60%. No one has 90% uranium. There is no 90% enriched uranium in Iran.

Enriched uranium is just one piece of the puzzle. If you see a bag of flour on a table, it doesn’t prove that someone baked a cake. You still need eggs. You need salt. You need a mold. You need an oven. The uranium is useless without the other materials — and a delivery mechanism.

October 2024: Grossi, the Director General of the IAEA — he, the next month, he goes to Tehran. He tries to hold everything together, like he did with the black box agreement with the cameras. And the Iranians don’t just offer to pause uranium enrichment, right? They didn’t just say it. They literally took him to Fordow and showed him the centrifuges are offline. Okay? They say, “We stopped. Go relay that to the Americans. Get them to lift the sanctions. And don’t bollock us around at the Board of Governors. And by the way, we’ll even undo the blacklisting of those four IAEA inspectors. You can send four new ones to Iran to take their place.” So: full cooperation. Full transparency.

He goes back to Vienna. And what happens at the Board of Governors? They go ahead and they condemn and they censure Iran again. You know, they punish Iran for offering to pause uranium enrichment. I mean, talk about shooting yourself in the foot.

So what does Iran do? Well, they go, “Screw you. Bring the centrifuges online.”

And then we come to 12 June 2025 — that’s just last week. And we have this recent IAEA report, where for the first time in two decades, they say Iran has reneged on its commitments — not under the JCPOA — but rather under the NPT, which is the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Which, of course, Israel has never signed.

Then Israel will go to work and start bombing Iran — as if they don’t have nuclear weapons of their own, and they aren’t suspected of committing a genocide, right? Apparently Iran is the big threat here.

So I just wanted to summarise to show you how full of utter bullshit all of these motherfuckers are — from the IAEA to the UN to the US to the UK to France, Germany, Israel — acting like Iran is trying to build a nuclear bomb. There is no nuclear weapons program. They are lying — just like they lied about Iraq, like they lied about Syria.

Iran tried every step of the way to limit, to go back to 3.67%, to get the United States back in the deal. They just wanted sanctions relief. They negotiated with Obama, with Trump, with Biden — again with Trump. For seven years, they’ve been… all they wanted is sanctions relief. They did it under the so-called hardliners. They did it under the so-called reformists. They never changed their position. It was just a pressure tactic.

They don’t have a nuclear weapons program. A nuclear program — a civilian nuclear program — yes, it’s necessary to build a nuclear bomb, but it’s not proof of a nuclear weapons program. If you want nuclear power, you need a nuclear program. And they have a right to that civilian nuclear program under the NPT.

People will say, “Iran has a lot of gas and, you know, what do they need that for?” That’s irrelevant. There is no evidence of a nuclear weapons program — period. They don’t have one — period.

The Iranians tried every step of the way to placate and appease the Americans, okay? And all the Americans did is jerk them around. And then Donald Trump has the balls to say, “I gave them 60 days.” They gave you seven years! It’s been seven goddamn years since 2018. They’ve been waiting for you for seven years.

And that’s what the media do — Reuters, BBC, Sky — all of these lying pieces of sacks of shit? All they do is manufacture consent for this war. They can’t just give you an honest breakdown like I did. They can’t do that. You know, it just doesn’t compute. They have to be dishonest. They have to lie. They have to obfuscate.

And in the last couple of days, by the way, we’ve seen the Iranians release these files claiming the Director General of the IAEA, Grossi, has been working with Israel. Now, I saw six documents — I didn’t find any others. I translated them, and I couldn’t really see anything conclusive. But I’ll say this:

Just the fact that the IAEA has allowed the Board of Governors and allowed this witch hunt against Iran to go on for so long — that, that by itself has de facto manufactured consent for this war against Iran, okay? That’s probably done more damage than anything else.

Because by the way, if they want information from the Director General, I can tell you from first-hand sources that they have bugged the Director General — and the previous one — enough times to get any info they need. So whether he cooperates or not, it’s frankly irrelevant.

It’s this manufacturing of consent — this boogeyman image about Iran that, “Oh, they might have a bomb. They’re not following their commitments.” You know, like as if they left the deal. No. The Americans left the deal.

You should be condemning the Israelis for bombing numerous Iranian nuclear sites — for a decade now.

Do you know, by the way, that there’s alpha particle contamination right now in the Natanz facility because of Israel’s bombings? Now obviously, that’s not as bad as having gamma particles, you know, all over the place — thankfully. But where is the condemnation by the IAEA? By the Director General? Against Israel and America for attacking Iran with the Stuxnet virus? For assassinating nuclear scientists? For supplying the bombs for Israel to attack numerous Iranian nuclear sites — just in the last week, never mind the last 10 years? Where is the condemnation? Unbelievable.

This has never been about nuclear weapons. It’s never been about nuclear weapons. This is America’s deal. America imposed it on Iran. Iran wanted sanctions relief.

The agreement capped uranium to 3.67%. It limited research and development on the centrifuges. It allowed them to have 130 metric tons of heavy water. It capped the amount of UF6 — hexafluoride gas — enriched to 3.67% at 300 kg. It capped the number of centrifuges at 5,060. All of that was to lift sanctions.

Iran never embarked on a nuclear weapons program. Israel knows this. Donald Trump knows this.

And the reason that Donald Trump pulled out of the deal — in his own words — is not because of the nuclear program. He’s lying. It’s because of the ballistic missiles:

“Okay, but it also fails to address the regime’s development of ballistic missiles that could deliver nuclear warheads. Finally, the deal does nothing to constrain Iran’s destabilising activities, including its support for terrorism.” said Trump.

He doesn’t like Iran having ballistic missiles. Those are the missiles, by the way, that Iran is firing back right now — in self-defense.

They want Iran to be defenseless. That is what it is about. And they don’t want Iran to support liberation and resistance groups in the region. They want to steal oil from Syria. They want to occupy Syria. They want to occupy Palestine, occupy Iraq — without any resistance or pushback. That is what this is about.

Because that has nothing to do with a nuclear deal or a nuclear program. You may not like that — but tough. It’s got nothing to do with their civilian nuclear program.

And it goes to show you how dishonest these people are. Their real problem is Iran’s foreign policy.

I told you in December — once Syria fell, Lebanon and Palestine gone — they’re lost. And Iran is next.

It’s always been about imposing Zionism and imposing Western imperialism on the Middle East. Nothing else.

And the United States remains the only country in history to have ever used nuclear weapons — and it dropped them on civilians in a show of force to the USSR, to the Soviet Union.

And look at what Israel has done in the last year and a half — in the last decades — just with conventional weapons. And they still maintain a secret nuclear arsenal. They’re the only entity on this planet with a first-strike nuclear doctrine — meaning they maintain an aggressive nuclear posture. All other actors with nuclear weapons say they will only use them in self-defense. At least on paper, they do.

The Israelis have never signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. They have never been subject to nuclear inspections. They have refused to sign the ban on chemical weapons. So who’s the real threat here?

Is it the people that are committing genocide, who we know have nuclear weapons — the US, UK, France, Israel?

Or is it the Iranians — who we know for a fact have no nuclear weapons?