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UN Nuclear Agency Ends Iran Probe
The IAEA has been given the role of verifying Iran’s commitments under the nuclear deal with six world powers.
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Most other sanctions against Iran are due to be lifted, and previous resolutions shelved, after the worldwide nuclear agreement reached with global powers is put into effect.
But the panel said a missile with a range of at least 300 kilometers (186 miles) and a payload of at least 500 kilograms (1,102 pounds) – far smaller than the one launched on October 10 – is considered by expert guidelines to be capable of delivering weapons of mass destruction.
The panel claimed that Iranian rocket launches from 2012 and 2013 also violated the United Nations ban.
A decision was approved by consensus of the 35-nation board of the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency.
Iran, which has always rejected sanctions against it as illegal and unjustified, has repeatedly made clear it has no intention of complying with the restrictions on its missile program.
After the vote to approve the final report by the IAEA Board of Governors, Iran’s representative to the IAEA gave a speech in which he “categorically” rejected the “existence of organizational structure or coordinated effort before or after 2003 to develop nuclear explosive device by Iran”.
“It’s an important step for closing the book on the IAEA investigation into Iran’s past weaponization work, but it doesn’t mean the IAEA and Iran will have a normal relationship going forward”, said Kelsey Davenport, director of nonproliferation policy at the Arms Control Association, a research organization that cheered the deal when it was reached.
During the speech, the Iranian president also urged his administration’s critics to stop criticizing the nuclear deal, saying that the era of criticizing JCPOA is over and called for unity among Iranians.
“We know Iran concealed its nuclear weapons development and yet the investigation into possible military dimensions is now closed despite their deception.
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. Once the IAEA confirms that Iran has modified or cut back on programs and activities that could be re-engineered to produce the fissile core of nuclear weapons, individual and global sanctions imposed on Iran over its nuclear program will be lifted.
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Israel’s IAEA delegate Merav Zafary-Odiz characterised the document ending the probe and leading to a deal that her country says keeps Iran’s weapons-making potential intact as an “erroneous resolution”. The lifting of sanctions, agreed in a deal in July 2015 with major countries which included USA, European Union, Great Britain, Russia, China, France and Germany, hinged on the IAEA’s findings on the issue.