The UN nuclear chief warned the collapse of the Iran nuclear deal under harsh attacks by US President Donald Trump would be a major setback to multilateral diplomacy and the UN nuclear agency’s verification mandate.
“The JCPOA represents a significant gain for verification. As of today, I can state that Iran is implementing its nuclear-related commitments. It is essential that Iran continues to fully implement those commitments. If the JCPOA were to fail, it would be a great loss for nuclear verification and for multilateralism,” Yukiya Amano said in his address to a meeting of the UN nuclear agency’s board of governors in Vienna on Monday.
He was using an abbreviation that stands for the formal title of the pact, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
It was announced in July 2015 following two years of negotiations between Iran and major powers to curb its nuclear program in return for giving it relief from international sanctions.
Iran’s commitment has been repeatedly verified by the International Atomic Energy Agency, Amano’s organization which has been tasked with monitoring the action plan’s implementation.
Naval Nuclear Propulsion
“The agency has requested Iran to provide further clarifications regarding its plans relevant to the development of the nuclear fuel cycle related to naval nuclear propulsion,” Amano told the board of governors, according to a transcript of his remarks carried by the IAEA’s website.
The UN nuclear watchdog’s most recent quarterly report on Iran last month reaffirmed Iran’s full compliance with the nuclear accord. It also said the Islamic Republic had informed the agency of a “decision that has been taken to construct naval nuclear propulsion in future.”
The report said Tehran has yet to respond to the IAEA’s request for “further clarifications and amplifications”, adding that if Iran had reached a concrete decision to build new facilities for marine propulsion it must provide design information.
President Hassan Rouhani ordered the start of planning on the development of nuclear marine propulsion devices in December 2016, in response to the signing of a congressional bill by the then US President Barack Obama into law to extend for another decade the Iran Sanctions Act, which was adopted in 1996 to target Iran’s energy industry.
Obama’s successor, Trump has railed against the deal, threatening to withdraw from the UN-endorsed agreement if its “disastrous flaws” are not fixed.
