Iran Focus
Washington, 25 Jun – The Obama Administration is “dropping its bottom-line by the day” in international negotiations over Iran’s suspected nuclear weapons programme, US Rep. Ed Royce, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a statement on Wednesday.
A report by the Associated Press on Wednesday indicated that a possible agreement is set to offer Tehran high-tech reactors and convert Iran’s underground facility at Fordo for isotope production.
“The Obama Administration is dropping its bottom-line by the day. This morning it’s reported that Fordo will be used for isotope production. While we once demanded that this hardened mountain-top facility be shut, we are now on the verge of accepting technology there that can quickly be re-engineered for bomb-making fuel”, Royce said in a statement.
“These continued concessions only emboldened Iran’s leaders to press for more. So much so that yesterday, Iran’s Supreme Leader essentially tore up the weak ‘framework’ agreement reached in April. No inspections on Iran’s military sites? Immediate sanctions relief? How come we are not reading about any concessions on the Iranian side? The way these negotiations are moving, it is increasingly difficult to see the Administration striking a meaningful, lasting agreement that would be acceptable to Congress.”
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Tuesday ruled out inspections of military sites and a long-term freeze of nuclear activities, while demanding that sanctions be lifted immediately.
Last week, US Senator Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, chided the Obama administration over comments by Secretary of State John Kerry that the US would be prepared to accept concessions regarding full disclosure of Iran’s past attempts to develop a nuclear weapon, including permitting sanctions relief before those issues are fully resolved.
Iran and the P5+1 states – Britain, China, France, Russia, the US and Germany – have a self-imposed deadline of 30 June to reach an agreement limiting Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for relief from economic sanctions.
