The briefing came after a report was published saying the United States and other signatories to the nuclear accord granted Iran secret exemptions to ensure Tehran could meet its obligations by the January 16 deadline to receive sanctions relief. His study claims that the exemptions given to Iran were made so that it would meet a deadline to start receiving economic sanctions relief.
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The institute’s director and co-author of the report, David Albright, said that this and other exemptions were granted by the commission in secret. “That is, if we assume Iran does not cheat on the agreement first”.
The institute has remained neutral on whether or not the nuclear deal should have been implemented.
USA lawmakers have criticized the United Nations for not opening its review of Iran’s nuclear facilities to American inspectors, and others have alleged that the White House kept key so-called “side deals” secret. He added the only violation of the terms of the deal had been a temporary surplus in Iran’s export of heavy water (which can be used in nuclear reactors to produce plutonium), but that had been corrected.
The Joint Commission also allowed Iran to keep operating 19 radiation containment chambers larger than agreed to during negotiations, as well as offer them a heavy water loophole.
Two of those secret exemptions allowed Iran to exceed the agreement’s limits of low-grade uranium it was allowed to store at its nuclear facilities.
Albright alleged that the Joint Commission created a Technical Working Group to consider further exemptions to Iran’s stock of 3.5 per cent low enriched uranium.
Clinton has in subtle ways sought to differentiate herself from the deal’s outcome, praising the deal, but suggesting she would be more vigilant in keeping Iran on track. “The intention appears to be to conduct these discussions and the associated decision making about LEU exemptions in secret, without any public scrutiny”, it noted.
Albright said the exceptions risked setting precedents that Iran could use to seek additional waivers. The official did not address the report’s assertions of exemptions. Plutonium is another nuclear weapons fuel.
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Iranian state TV on Sunday aired footage of deployment of the recently delivered missile system to the nuclear site in the central Iran. Albright’s Thursday report criticizes the administration for keeping “secret” the Joint Commission’s findings, which it says are written down and therefore amount to confidential documents.
