UN closing books on decade-long nuke probe of Iran

The UN nuclear agency has adopted a resolution to close the investigation into whether Iran once had a nuclear weapons program. The council, however, adjourned without taking action.

The BBC’s Bethany Bell in Vienna says sanctions against Iran could be lifted as early as the middle of January.

“Iran’s lies and obstruction have paid off”, he said.

But some of the most prominent specialist observers of Iran’s nuclear program have argued that the United Nations agency’s PMD investigation could not possibly be closed, given the regime’s failure to cooperate fully.

“The IAEA report clearly indicates once again that Iran has conducted a coordinated effort to develop a nuclear explosive device, including activities taking place after 2003”, the Israeli foreign ministry said. “Or the Iranians will pocket it and keep moving”. Chris Coons (D., Del.) on the Senate floor.

While ballistic missile tests may violate U.N. Security Council sanctions, council diplomats note that such launches are not a violation of the nuclear deal, which is focused on specific nuclear activities by Iran.

The International Atomic Energy Agency decides to close nuclear weapon probe of Iran on Tuesday. He called the decision a “capitulation”.

They said a failure to hold Iran accountable to its global obligations “will invite more violations from Tehran and further endanger the security of Americans and our allies”.

The development marks a positive step towards normalizing Iran’s relations with the global community, analysts said.

“On the basis of its analysis and findings the Panel concludes that Emad launch is a violation by Iran of paragraph 9 of Security Council resolution 1929”, the panel said in its report.

Russian Federation and China-which hold veto power-refused to condemn Iran.

According to IranWatch.org, a site dedicated to Iranian security issues, “as with several other components of the JCPOA, Iranian compliance with a ban on ballistic missile activity is non-mandatory”.

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2 that Iranian scientists had experimented with nuclear-bomb technologies without ever taking the final steps needed to produce a weapon.

The ten-page report, to be discussed Tuesday at the UNSC, suggests that the rocket was created to carry a nuclear warhead. “The report included several pictures and screen shots of videos of [the] launch, and said the missile was tested in a desert location in the northwest or northeast of the country”.

Based on video footage of the 10 October launch, the panel said the Emad delivery system was identified as “the Ghadr-1 medium-range single stage liquid-fuelled ballistic missile”.

The launching of ballistic missiles is prohibited in a provision of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1929.

Once approved, it opens the way for implementation of the deal, formally expected next month.

During their 12-year investigation into Iran’s nuclear program, the International Atomic Energy Agency found some of the allegations leveled against the country were true.

The IAEA is set to close its PMD probe. While the report ostensibly provides a complete assessment of Iran’s prior activities, it also acknowledges that the Islamic Republic had continued work on some elements of a nuclear weapons program at least until 2009, longer than previously believed. He said those activities did not get beyond scientific studies and acquiring “certain relevant technical competencies and capabilities”. “This could happen even before Iran increases its export volumes”. Obama administration officials did not elaborate.