Iran Focus
London, 24 Aug – Nikki Haley, the United States Ambassador to the United Nations, announced on Tuesday, August 22, that the US wants to know if the United Nations’ Atomic Watchdog is planning to inspect Iran’s military sites to verify that the Iranian Regime is in compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal.
Haley, who met with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) officials in Vienna on Wednesday, asked the question as part of the Donald Trump administration’s review of the agreement between Iran, the US, and five other world powers.
The deal, agreed by President Obama, lifted most sanctions against the Iranian Regime in an effort to curb their nuclear weapons programme but has not worked as well as expected.
Haley, a member of Trump’s cabinet, told Reuters: “If you look … at past Iranian behaviour, what you’ve seen is there have been covert actions at military sites, at universities, things like that.”
She continued: “There were already issues in those locations, so are they including that in what they look at to make sure that those issues no longer remain? They have the authority to look at military sites now. They have the authority to look at any suspicious sites now, it’s just are they doing it?”
An IAEA representative declined to comment and said that they had no public statements planned with regard to the meeting.
Iranian Regime officials have refused to allow international inspectors to access their military sites and have threatened that any such move would invoke harsh consequences.
Haley said: “Why would they say that if they had nothing to hide? Why wouldn’t they let the IAEA go there?”
The Iranian Regime’s atomic chief said that Iran would be able to resume the production of highly enriched uranium- necessary for nuclear weapons- within five days if the nuclear deal was revoked.
The review into the suspension of sanctions on Iran as part of the nuclear deal- which Trump had previously called “the worst deal ever negotiated”- was ordered by Trump in April.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani threatened last week that if the United States imposes any more sanctions, then Iran would abandon the nuclear agreement “within hours”.
The IAEA policies restrictions on Iran’s nuclear activities and reports four times a year.
The US State Department is required to verify whether or not Irna is in compliance with the nuclear deal every 90 days and the next deadline is October.
Trump has previously said that he believes that Iran will be declared noncompliant at that review.
Haley said: “We don’t know if he’s going to certify or decertify the deal.”
The US policy review on Iran is also looking at their behaviour in the Middle East, which undermines US interests in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Lebanon.
