UN closing the books on decade-long nuclear probe of Iran

In a report Tuesday, the International Atomic Energy Agency said there was no credible indications of activities in Iran relevant to the development of a nuclear explosive device after 2009.

“I welcome today’s consensus adoption by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors (BOG) of the resolution addressing the Director General’s December 2 final assessment of the possible military dimensions (PMD) of Iran’s past nuclear program”, he said in Moscow.

The UN atomic watchdog’s board Tuesday drew a line under a long-running probe into Iran’s past efforts to develop nuclear weapons, removing an important obstacle to implementing July’s landmark deal with big powers.

UNITED NATIONS Iran violated a U.N. Security Council resolution in October by test-firing a missile capable of delivering a nuclear warhead, a team of sanctions monitors said, leading to calls in the U.S. Congress on Tuesday for more sanctions on Tehran.

Under the July deal, global sanctions against Iran will be lifted in exchange for the restrictions on the country’s activities.

The JCPOA is the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the worldwide agreement reached with Iran in July on ending the standoff over its alleged nuclear ambitions.

Another outstanding issue which has ended without being clearly resolved is Iran’s nuclear research at Parchin. “For over a decade, Iran has been non-cooperative and deceptive”, a foreign ministry spokesman said. Under the agreement, Iran must carry out steps to scale back its nuclear programme, many of which it has completed.

Iran is already required to remove the core from its nuclear reactor at Arak, ship 98% of its enriched uranium fuel to other countries, dismantle 13,500 centrifuges that process uranium into fuel and allow the IAEA to install verification and monitoring equipment.

Iranian and US officials have said that could be accomplished as early as January-one month ahead of parliamentary elections in Iran.

Following the Emad firing it was suggested that the United Nations could take steps including blacklisting additional Iranian individuals or entities, Reuters said, citing diplomats.

However an arms ban will remain in replace as well as sanctions on dozens of people and companies associated with Iran’s nuclear program.

The organization said the agency’s decision to move on means it is “acquiescing to an incomplete accounting of Iran’s past nuclear weapons activity” and in doing so “weakens the credibility of its institution and lessens the prospect that Iran will comply with the [nuclear deal] in the future”. “The IAEA could have recommended delaying Implementation Day until Iran demonstrated substantial compliance with its obligation to explain its past illicit nuclear activities”.