Trump Admin Targets Iranian Nuclear Scientists in New Round of Sanctions

This is the first time the Trump administration has specifically sanctioned individual scientists working to build an Iranian nuclear bomb

The Trump administration sanctioned three leading Iranian scientists on Monday for their work advancing the Islamic Republic’s atomic weapons program, the Washington Free Beacon has learned.

All three Iranians hold high-level positions in Tehran’s Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research, or SPND, the regime’s key nuclear weaponization agency. Their work consisted of critical research into “nuclear explosive devices” and advanced “missiles capable of delivering such weapons,” the State Department said.

The three individuals—Mohammed Reza Mehdipur, Sayyed Mohammad Reza Seddighi Saber, and Ahmad Haghighat Taleb—perform work related to the “proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.”

Mehdipur, a veteran SPND official who conducts “explosion and shock research,” leads a division that engages in “nuclear and explosives research and development efforts, including those with potential military applications.” Seddighi, who “works on explosives-related projects,” is involved in “the development of nuclear explosive devices.” Taleb, who has played a role in Tehran’s nuclear program since before its existence came to light, uses “his scientific expertise to advance Iran’s nuclear-related research and development efforts that have potential military applications,” according to information the State Department provided to the Free Beacon.

The Trump administration also introduced sanctions on Iran’s Fuya Pars Prospective Technologists, an “SPND-affiliated company that has attempted to procure from foreign suppliers, as well as indigenously fabricate, equipment that could be applicable in nuclear weapons research and development.”

Monday’s designations are the latest in a bevy of sanctions against Iran but the first from the Trump administration to target the scientists behind Iran’s march toward a nuclear bomb.

While the measures helped push the Islamic Republic to the negotiating table, they have also created friction amid ongoing talks. Tehran has insisted that the United States lift all sanctions as a precondition for a nuclear deal, with Iranian officials confirming that their desire for sanctions relief is the primary topic of discussion with the United States.

“The removal of sanctions is one of the bases for the talks, and it is something that both parties agree on,” Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said, adding that the regime believes maintaining its ability to enrich uranium is key to any potential deal.

The Trump administration, however, maintains that fresh sanctions are necessary to prevent Iran from completing its nuclear project.

“Iran continues to substantially expand its nuclear program and carry out dual-use research and development activities applicable to nuclear weapons and nuclear weapons delivery systems,” the State Department said. “Iran is the only country in the world without nuclear weapons that is producing uranium enriched to 60 percent and it continues to use front companies and procurement agents to obscure its efforts to acquire dual-use items from foreign suppliers.”

The Trump administration applied the sanctions just a day after the United States and Iran wrapped up their fourth diplomatic session in Oman.

White House envoy Steve Witkoff held “both direct and indirect” talks with Tehran that lasted more than three hours and ended with an agreement to hold future sessions related to the “technical elements” of a possible deal, according to a senior Trump administration official.

“We are encouraged by today’s outcome and look forward to our next meeting, which will happen in the near future,” the official told the Free Beacon.

While the administration has signaled it may be open to allowing Iran to enrich uranium for “civil nuclear power,” a group of Republican senators last week introduced a resolution making clear that continued enrichment is a nonstarter.

The resolution—introduced by Sens. Katie Britt (R., Ala.), Tom Cotton (R., Ark.), and Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.)—holds that any pact between the two countries must mandate that Iran “forgo domestic uranium enrichment, the reprocessing of spent fuel, and the development or possession of any enrichment or reprocessing infrastructure or capacity.”