Iran is still complying with its obligations under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the 2015 nuclear deal concluded with six world powers, International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Yukiya Amano said on Monday.
In remarks delivered to the IAEA chair, Mr. Amano said “The nuclear-related commitments undertaken by Iran under the JCPOA are being implemented.”
The IAEA has been monitoring and verifying the JCPOA since it was implemented in January 2016. Under the terms of the nuclear deal, Iran agreed to a strict monitoring regime and to dismantle its centrifuges and ship enriched uranium to Russia, along with other measures. In exchange, the P5+1 – China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom and United States – agreed to lift nuclear-related sanctions against Tehran.
The deal doesn’t cover other U.S., E.U. or U.N. sanctions, such as those against Iran’s ballistics program, which Washington maintains violates a 2010 U.N. Security Council resolution.
Mr. Amano said the IAEA continues to verify that Tehran is not diverting the nuclear material it declared. “Evaluations regarding the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities in Iran remain ongoing,” he added.
The IAEA has now affirmed eight times that Tehran is upholding its JCPOA obligations.
Earlier on Monday, Bloomberg News detailed the inspections, reporting that IAEA monitors have conducted 402 site visits and 25 snap inspections – nearly two a month – since implementation day.
In March, U.S. President Donald Trump ordered his Secretary of State to review whether the U.S. complying with the JCPOA was in the country’s national interest, a suggestion that the administration may be trying to pull out of the agreement while trying not to infuriate its estranged European allies. The Department of State said in its July assessment that it views Iran as compliant with the nuclear deal.