Reuters: U.S. pressure or not, U.N. nuclear watchdog sees no need to check Iran military sites
VIENNA (Reuters) - The United States is pushing U.N. nuclear inspectors to check military sites in Iran to verify it is not breaching its nuclear deal with world powers. But for this to happen, inspectors must believe such checks are necessary and so far they do not, officials say.
Last week, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley visited the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which is scrutinizing compliance with the 2015 agreement, as part of a review of the pact by the administration of President Donald Trump. He has called it “the worst deal ever negotiated”.
After her talks with officials of the U.N. nuclear watchdog, Haley said: “There are... numerous undeclared sites that have not been inspected. That is a problem.” Iran dismissed her demands as “merely a dream”.
The IAEA has the authority to request access to facilities in Iran, including military ones, if there are new and credible indications of banned nuclear activities there, according to officials from the agency and signatories to the deal.
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WNU Editor: As far as the IAEA is concerned, Iran is complying with the nuclear deal, so there is no need for inspections .... Iran Is Sticking to the Nuclear Deal, IAEA Says (Bloomberg). But how can you say that they are complying with the deal when you are not even conducting inspections?
From the first paragraph of the article;
ReplyDelete"Iran stuck by its nuclear deal with world powers by keeping its uranium stockpile and production capacity below set thresholds, according to United Nations inspectors."
and later
"IAEA inspectors use site visits, remote monitoring, containment seals and satellite imagery to verify that Iran stays within nuclear production and capacity limits..."
also
“This was not an agreement between two countries, I have repeated it time and again and I have the impression that we will need to repeat it time and again in the months to come,”
Addressing, of course, the US position that it is the sole arbiter of such things. I have to give Iran some points for not bringing up the other "rogue state" that has nuclear weapons.