US Seeking to Complicate JCPOA Implementation

The US pressure on the UN nuclear agency to conduct an inspection of Iran's military facilities is aimed at sowing uncertainty over the implementation of the 2015 nuclear deal, a lawmaker said.

"The US intends to raise skepticism and obscure the transparent international environment surrounding the nuclear agreement," Alireza Rahimi also said in an interview with ICANA on Saturday.

The remarks of Rahimi, who is also a member of Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, came more than a week after the US envoy to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, met with security experts and Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency Yukiya Amano at the agency's headquarters in Vienna. Haley acknowledged later that her visit was aimed at pressing the UN nuclear watchdog to undertake to inspect the Islamic Republic's military sites.

"This trip and raising the issue of the inspection of military centers were part of American efforts to scupper JCPOA," Rahimi said, using an abbreviation that stands for the formal tile of the accord, the Joint Comprehensive plan of Action.

"The dossier of visits to military centers has been officially closed at the United Nations Security Council," he said.

US President Donald Trump has been harshly critical of the action plan, brokered with Iran by his predecessor Barack Obama, alongside five other world powers. It eased most of international sanctions against Iran in return for scaling back its nuclear work. The pact did not go into effect until a final assessment report by Amano to the IAEA's Board of Governors and the UN Security Council drew a line under the agency's inquiry into Iran's nuclear past.

The inspection of military bases was a major sticking point in 18 months of negotiations leading to the deal. Iran's top authorities have made clear that foreign access to military sites is out of the question, citing the potential national security ramifications. Under the accord, the agency can request access to military sites if it comes across or be provided with adequate, credible evidence of malfeasance. But Haley is said to have failed to present any new information to back up her case for the inspections.

"The demand for access to military facilities is illegal and unconventional, and Iran will never accede to it," Rahimi concluded.