Iranian nuclear weapons probe closed by United Nations watchdog

Supporters of the July deal argue that it gives the IAEA far more intrusive powers to inspect Iran’s facilities and to monitor what it is doing, and that it extends the time Tehran would need to build an atom bomb if it chose to do so. The next step was for Iran to complete preparatory steps to start implementing the final nuclear deal.

Following the launch, talks by the U.S. Congress over the possible implementing of new sanctions on Iran were triggered.

“The chains of sanctions will be removed from the ankles of Iran’s economy and the path will be more open for more interaction with the world”, Rouhani said.

Reuters on Tuesday reviewed the 10-page report, which was dated December 11 and went to members of the United Nations Security Council’s Iran sanctions committee in recent days.

The report said the panel considers ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons to be those that can deliver at least a 500 kg payload within a range of at least 300 km.

Iran’s United Nations mission did not respond to a request for comment.

He claimed that some activities had been carried out in Iran to develop a nuclear explosive device before and after 2003; however, the IAEA “assesses that these activities did not advance beyond feasibility and scientific studies, and the acquisition of certain relevant technical competences and capabilities”.

Sanctions will be gradually removed from Iran. The US reaction, however, is likely to take awhile.

The launching of ballistic missiles is prohibited in a provision of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1929. Several economic restrictions were placed on Iran after allegations of development of nuclear weapons were made against Iran. The U.S. participated in drawing up the resolution ending the investigation along with the other nations that negotiated the deal with Iran – Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany.

On Tuesday, the Iranian senior nuclear negotiator, Abbas Araqchi, also said that following the IAEA resolution, the removal of global and Western sanctions against Iran will begin in early January 2016, according to official IRNA news agency.

Iranian IAEA delegate Reza Najafi trotted out Teheran’s usual denial of a nuclear weapons program, saying the Islamic republic’s nuclear activities “have always been for peaceful civilian or conventional military uses”.

“Closing the PMD [possible military dimensions] agenda item will in no way preclude the IAEA from investigating if there is reason to believe Iran is pursuing any covert nuclear activities in the future, as it had in the past”, Kerry asserted. It was the first test of a ballistic surface-to-surface missile after the landmark nuclear deal on July 14.