IAEA: Iran nuke deal may be implemented next month

Iran may meet by next month all of the benchmarks necessary for world powers to proceed with implementation of their nuclear deal, the head of the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency said.

 

For Iran, the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany to reach “Implementation Day” for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, Tehran must first complete a series of tasks. Those steps include neutering its plutonium reactor in Arak, reducing its nuclear enrichment capacity and stockpile, and increasing access and transparency at its declared nuclear facilities.

 

As soon as Iran completes all these steps – a process the Obama administration believed would take four to six months – the deal reached in July will be formally implemented, and Iran will begin receiving sanctions relief.

 

Having promised in election campaigns past an improved economy in short order, the government of President Hassan Rouhani has been pushing toward implementation before Iran’s parliamentary elections at the end of February. At the start of the process, Iranian officials even expressed hope they would complete the initial steps by the end of this year.

 

IAEA director-general Yukiya Amano, whose agency must verify that Iran has put the required nuclear restrictions in place for sanctions to be lifted, told Reuters in an interview this week that the electoral deadline could be met.

 

“If everything goes well, it is not impossible,” he said. “Our inspectors are on the ground and they are observing their activities, and with their report I can tell that Iran is undertaking activities at a very high pace.”

 

Read More: IAEA: Iran nuke deal may be implemented next month – Middle East – Jerusalem Post