by Reuters and Israel Hayom Staff
"I have good confidence in the IAEA, but they are dealing with a country that has a clear history of lying and pursuing covert nuclear programs," U.N. envoy Nikki Haley says
The Bushehr nuclear power plant
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Photo credit: Reuters  |
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki
Haley on Friday pressed the International Atomic Energy Agency to seek
access to Iranian military bases to ensure that they are not concealing
activities banned by the 2015 nuclear deal.
"I have good confidence in the IAEA, but they
are dealing with a country that has a clear history of lying and
pursuing covert nuclear programs," Haley told a news conference after
returning from a trip to the Vienna-based U.N. agency.
"We are encouraging the IAEA to use all the
authorities they have and to pursue every angle possible" to verify
compliance with the nuclear deal, she said.
Haley visited the U.N. nuclear watchdog's
headquarters as part of U.S. President Donald Trump's review of the Iran
nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, made by
then-President Barack Obama in 2015.
The deal is designed to prevent Iran from
developing nuclear weapons by imposing constraints on its nuclear
program in return for the lifting of international sanctions on Tehran.
The IAEA concluded that Iran secretly researched a nuclear warhead until
2009, which Tehran denies.
Iran's top authorities have rejected giving
international inspectors access to their military sites and officials
have told Reuters any such move would trigger harsh consequences.
"The JCPOA made no distinction between
military and nonmilitary sites. There are also numerous undeclared sites
that have not been inspected. That is a problem," said Haley.
Iran is suspected by the IAEA of conducting weapons-related activities at least at one military site years before the 2015 deal.
Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms
Control Association, a think tank, said that the deal sets out a process
for the IAEA to request access to any Iranian site, and that it would
be publicly known if such a request was made and rejected.
"The agency to our knowledge has not requested
access to any site and been denied," he said. "Furthermore, the agency
cannot and should not seek access to a site simply to test the Iranians'
cooperation. They must have a legitimate reason."
Kimball charged that the Trump administration "is
seeking a pretext" to accuse Iran of not complying with the deal, which
Trump has repeatedly vowed to tear up.
Reuters and Israel Hayom Staff
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=44895
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