Iran Gives UN Information About Past Nuclear Activities

In Iran, the CIA has never had much success developing and keeping good intelligence sources, says Reuel Marc Gerecht, who worked as a CIA operations officer.

Anti-Iran sanctions imposed separately by the United States, the United Nations and the European Union banned sales of Iranian oil products to many foreign states, and also prohibited the West’s nuclear cooperation with Iran. In exchange for imposing limits on Iran, the rest of the world will lift debilitating sanctions.

A senior Iranian official declared on Monday that global nuclear inspectors would only be permitted into the country once they receive approval from the Islamic Republic’s Intelligence Ministry, putting another roadblock between the worldwide Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Iran’s contested nuclear sites. However, if inspectors suspect there is suspicious activity, they only have to provide 24 hours notice before searching the facility. If Iran resisted at every turn, it could take up to 24 days for inspectors to finally get access.

The fact is that any deal that did not involve complete abdication of their responsibilities by the U.S. and its allies would have still entailed a major retreat by the Iranian regime.

Alongside this deal, Iran signed a road-map agreement with the IAEA to clarify the past and present nuclear issues. “Following this, Salehi demanded, via the Omani mediator Sultan Qaboos, that the U.S. recognize Iran’s right to enrich uranium, and received a letter from Qaboos expressing such American recognition, which he relayed to Ahmadinejad”.

As this graphic released by the White House shows, it’s going to be tough for Iran to secretly create a weapon. But you can fail one test and still pass the entire course, and I remain hopeful that that will be the situation when Western policy, toward Iran, in particular that of American enters into new phases, especially after the end of the Obama presidency.

The 159-page deal has its own opponents and proponents both in Iran and the other countries that are parties to the JCPOA, particularly the US. And this is all the more true in light of the growing challenges just outside of its borders, from Israeli dissent against a weak nuclear agreement to the formation of the Saudi-led coalition to combat Iran’s meddling in Yemen.