The U.N. nuclear agency closed the books Tues. on its decade-long probe of allegations in that Iran worked on atomic arms, & Tehran proclaimed in that it might implement commitments within weeks to cut back on present nuclear programs in that could possibly be used to make such weapons.
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The International Atomic Energy Agency’s resolution, approved by its board of governors, comes despite a December 2 IAEA report that concluded Iran had conducted “a range of activities relevant to the development” of a nuclear bomb until 2009.
“This decision to whitewash the past represents an inauspicious beginning to the implementation process of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action”, the formal name of the Iran nuclear deal, the AIPAC statement said.
In terms of ongoing IAEA reports, the Iran file will change from a nuclear proliferation case to updates on the July deal as soon as Tehran has fulfilled its promises, which it expects to have done in January, allowing for sanctions relief. If any points of the agreement are violated by Iran, sanctions against the country will be renewed.
“We invite… foreign companies and governments, who would like to cooperate with Iran, to use this opportunity, which will be available within weeks, and benefit from Iran as the most secure country in the region”, he added. “Iran is developing ICBM capabilities, and the sole goal of an Iranian ICBM is to enable delivery of a nuclear weapon to the United States”. In exchange, economic sanctions against Iran – amounting to about $100 billion in frozen funds – would be lifted.
Iran’s Defense Minister Gen. Hossein Dehghan said at the time of the October 10 launch that the missile, named Emad or pillar in Farsi, was a technological achievement for Iran – able to be controlled until the moment of impact and to hit targets “with high precision”.
The panel claimed that Iranian rocket launches from 2012 and 2013 also violated the United Nations ban. Despite Iran’s “long history of concealment, denial and deception”, the July deal is “forward-looking”, the United States ambassador to the IAEA, Henry Ensher, said Tuesday. “The Security Council is merely exhorting Iran (“Iran is called upon”) to refrain from such activity”. Iran also has to change the design of a new nuclear reactor being built at Arak so that it produces substantially less plutonium, the alternative to uranium in a nuclear weapon.
The expert panel did not mention a second reported missile test that Iran carried out last month.
Iran has consistently denied any work – or interest in – acquiring nuclear weapons.
China on Wednesday welcomed the resolution adopted by the IAEA to close the investigation into Iran’s alleged nuclear activities, saying it may help implementation of a historic nuclear deal signed in July.
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ANNE BARKER: One Iranian commentator, Abbas Milani, a UK-based academic, says many in Iran strongly oppose the deal Tehran has done with the West.
