IAEA: Iran Keeping Its Side of Nuclear Deal

Iran has remained within the key limits on its nuclear activities imposed by its 2015 deal with major powers despite growing pressure from newly reimposed US sanctions, a report by the UN nuclear watchdog showed on Friday.
The International Atomic Energy Agency is charged with verifying Tehran’s compliance with the deal, which lifted sanctions against Tehran in exchange for restrictions on its atomic activities.
Iran has stayed within caps on the level to which it can enrich uranium as well as its stock of enriched uranium, the IAEA said in a quarterly report sent to its member states and obtained by Reuters.
The IAEA also repeated its usual statement that it has carried out complementary access inspections, which are often at short notice, at all locations in Iran that it needed to visit.

Continued Compliance 

“Not much has changed ..., a continuing reporting of the implementation [by Iran],” a senior diplomat said on condition of anonymity, summarizing the report.
US President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the Iran nuclear deal last May, reimposing US sanctions on Iran’s economy and lifeblood oil industry that were lifted under the 2015 agreement.
European powers that signed the deal, namely France, Britain and Germany, have sought to cushion the blow to Iran of those sanctions. They are setting up a new channel for non-dollar trade with Iran, but western diplomats say it will not be able to handle the big transactions Iran says it needs to keep the deal afloat.

Washington’s Anger  

Setting up that channel, however, has angered Washington for undermining its effort to choke Iran’s economy in response to Tehran’s ballistic missile program and its role in Syria and Yemen.
US Vice President Mike Pence last week called on European powers to follow Washington in pulling out of the agreement despite their long-held position that the deal is worth keeping as long as Iran sticks to it.
The Islamic Republic has long said that it wants nuclear power only for the purpose of civilian energy.
Iran’s stock of heavy water, which is used as a moderator in some nuclear reactors, also remains within the limit set by the deal and Tehran continued to ship some of it out of the country, with 1 ton having been exported during the quarter. 
The senior official said it was sold to an unspecified IAEA member state.