Thread by @TheGoodISIS

NEW: The International Inspectors Hold the Key to Truly Bringing Iran into Compliance with the Nuclear Deal’s Key Peaceful Pledge isis-online.org/isis-reports/d… 1/

A major goal of the Biden Administration is to sculpt a return to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) where Iran comes into full compliance with the deal in exchange for lifting all U.S. nuclear sanctions. 2/

Missing in the discussion so far is Iran’s lack of compliance with its fundamental commitment in the JCPOA, namely “under no circumstances will Iran ever seek, develop or acquire any nuclear weapons.” 3/

Director General Rafael Grossi of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) issued a scathing report in late May on Iran’s lack of cooperation in explaining nuclear materials at four undeclared sites linked to a previous nuclear weapons effort, stating.. 4/

Iran’s action “seriously affects the ability of the Agency to provide assurance of the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program.” 5/

If that statement were not enough to show non-compliance, the discovery of a secret Iranian archive of nuclear weapons documents in 2018 is a further violation of Iran’s pledge under the JCPOA that it would not seek nuclear weapons in any way. 6/

(For more on archive: amazon.com/Irans-Perilous… ) 7/

The secret possession of this curated archive also exposes a violation of Iran’s binding nuclear nonproliferation commitments under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). 8/

It is the IAEA’s analysis of this very archive, under authorities granted under the NPT, that led it to its current confrontation with Iran. 9/

While IAEA findings & the archive show Iran is not in compliance with this key JCPOA pledge, Iran so far shows no intention of changing that, exploiting the seeming inattention to this important matter in the JCPOA negotiations, even undertaking a campaign to undermine IAEA. 10/

Instead of answering the IAEA’s questions and concerns, Iran has stonewalled for months, sometimes trying to conflate the issue with Iran’s suspension of a supplementary safeguards agreement called the Additional Protocol and several JCPOA monitoring arrangements, .. 11/

.. important considerations tied to the re-establishment of the JCPOA, but independent of the more critical question of whether Iran has fully and completely declared its nuclear program. 12/

Iran has tried to make a show of meeting with the IAEA, while providing no substantive or credible response to the IAEA’s concerns about undeclared nuclear material, equipment, or activities. Grossi has said enough. In a recent media interview, “They have to answer.” 13/

As the confrontation became more overt, Iran’s representative to the IAEA in Vienna tweeted that the IAEA’s “approach could turn into an obstacle for future good-will interactions between the two sides.” As the IAEA raises the alarm, Iran’s response is to threaten. 14/

Alone, the IAEA is unlikely to prevail because of division in its Board of Governors between Western powers and Russia, which acts as Iran’s protector. 15/

Not surprisingly, the most recent IAEA Board of Governors meeting failed to pass a resolution condemning Iran and even was having trouble passing a consensus statement on the situation. 16/

But the JCPOA negotiations under U.S. leadership provide a productive way forward that offer far more likely prospects of success. 17/

Read full piece here: isis-online.org/isis-reports/d… 18/18