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Nuclear watchdog reports Iranian non-compliance, Israel warns over looming deal
As media reports suggest that an agreement over Iran’s nuclear programme is inching closer, Israeli leaders have warned against the proposed deal and the United Nations (UN) nuclear watchdog has reported that Tehran has not complied with monitoring its atomic development.
The Financial Times says that US Secretary of State John Kerry will meet with Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammed Zarif over the weekend. United States officials have recently met directly with Iranian counterparts in an attempt to find a resolution on Tehran’s nuclear plans, with the P5+1 powers (US, UK, France, Russia, China and Germany) and Iran having agreed a July deadline for such an agreement.
An outline to the deal is reportedly on the table and it is one which Israeli leaders yesterday cautioned against finalising. Israel’s Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz outlined several areas of concern to the Financial Times, including the number of centrifuges which Iran will be permitted, commenting “the P5+1 made too many concessions.” In an interview with David Ignatius in the Washington Post, Steinitz also said that the US’s assumed strategy to keep nuclear weapons out of Iran’s reach for just a decade is “dangerous.” Meanwhile, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday that the deal being discussed is a “bad agreement” and would be “dangerous for the State of Israel.”
At the same time, both AP and Reuters say that the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) latest report complains that “Iran has not provided any explanations” over suspicions it is developing atomic arms. An IAEA report in 2011 suggested that Iran had, until 2003 and possibly since then, conducted research into developing nuclear weapons. Iran had refused to answer the allegations but in November 2013, Tehran agreed with the IAEA that it would comply with seven transparency steps to help address suspicions.
Although negotiations between the IAEA and Iran are separate from the parallel P5+1 diplomatic process, they are considered complimentary, as a measure of Iranian openness.