US think tank questions Iran explanation for activity at site

The director of the IAEA, Yukiya Amano, came to Congress on Wednesday to try to reassure senators but said his agency could not show them the details of the documents. Second, allowing Iran to deal in conventional arms and further enhance its ballistic missile capabilities is imprudent, if not reckless. In 2003, in the State Department compliance report to Congress, and in every subsequent report, Iran has been found to be in violation of its NPT obligations.

Speaking to reporters on Saturday, Zarif dismissed the anti-Iran accusations, saying that “ruining the atmosphere (created after the nuclear conclusion)” is the sole goal behind such media reports.

I interviewed him for a new podcast series hosted by the center.

Coons has said he still has concerns about the agreement and is reviewing the deal.

“They are certainly not going to see the site that existed”.

Among the realities are infrastructure that has deteriorated substantially for lack of investment under the nuclear sanctions and some old oil fields whose production is petering out. Interpol worldwide arrest warrants – known as “red notices” – are now issued against senior Iranian officials for their active role in planning the bombing of the Amia Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires, where 85 people lost their lives.

General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Senate armed-services committee on July 30 that there are at least “five malign activities which give us and our regional partners concern”, including the pursuit of ballistic-missile technology, weapons trafficking, the use of surrogates and proxies, the use of naval mines and undersea activity.

“That is the case with the United States, too”, he said. That is required before any sanctions can be lifted under the agreement reached last month in Vienna.

Given the concessions granted to Iran in each of the aforementioned three issue areas, it is clear that the P5+1 deal with Tehran over the future of Iran is an imperfect one, both for the United States and its allies, especially for those among the latter situated in the heart of the Middle East, most notably Israel and Saudi Arabia.

In a statement, Iran’s UN mission said opponents are carrying out a “vicious” campaign “to poison the positive environment at the global level” and derail the agreement. The U.S. will continue to need to do so.

“There is no plan for U.S.-based companies to be able to go back into Iran, not just with respect to oil but with regard to most economic activity”, Nephew said.

A 2007 U.S. National Intelligence Assessment concluded that Iran halted this kind of work in 2003. “I’ve gotten some reassurance about how hard it is for them to effectively hide what we know to have been their illicit nuclear weapons developments there”.

Treasury hasn’t issued any guidance for such transactions, and isn’t likely to do so until October, Nephew said. Iran agreed to its safeguard agreements with the IAEA in 1974. He is a former host of the TV program Platts Energy Week.