United Nations nuclear watchdog ends probe into Iran’s weapons programme

On Tuesday, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the world’s nuclear regulatory watchdog, voted to halt its yearslong investigation into Iran’s past nuclear activity in favor of moving forward with the accord reached this year between Tehran and six Western powers – including the United States.

“Today’s resolution makes clear that the IAEA’s Board of Governors will be watching closely to verify that Iran fully implements its commitments under the JCPOA”, he said.

“Iran’s lies and obstruction have paid off”, he said, calling the decision in Vienna on Tuesday a “capitulation”. “For over a decade, Iran has been non-cooperative and deceptive”, the ministry said in a statement.

A report by the UN Security Council’s Panel of Experts on Iran said that the Emad rocket was a ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. The IAEA could have recommended delaying Implementation Day until Iran demonstrated substantial compliance with its obligation to explain its past illicit nuclear activities.

“Iran has been subjected to sanctions which have inflicted death and economic destruction and now there is no sign at all that the big powers that have inflicted this on Iran are being called to question and called to compensate Iran for the damage that has been done”, he argues. “Serious doubts and outstanding issues regarding Iran’s programme still remain”.

It said Iran conducted “a range of activities relevant to the development” of a nuclear bomb until 2009, although this work was preliminary and did not involve fissile material.

Security Council resolution 1929 was created in 2010 and bans Iran from engaging in ballistic missile tests.

The full extent to which Iran pursued nuclear weapons technology may never be known after the United Nations nuclear agency on December 15 closed its investigation of Teheran’s program.

At the same time, USA chief IAEA delegate Henry S. Ensher said the United Nations agency’s assessment wasn’t surprising, considering “Iran’s long history of concealment, denial and deception”.

Two Republican senators have written to President Obama that the October test, and another reported missile launch on November 21, require action by the administration.

The U.S. requested the Security Council take action against Iran, but punitive measures seem unlikely given Russian Federation and China’s concerns that it could imperil the nuclear deal.

U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power said the Security Council can not allow Iran to violate the resolution with impunity.

Once that takes place, expected early next year, a new Security Council resolution will go into effect that diplomats say would still impose restrictions on Iran’s ability to launch ballistic missiles.