VIENNA, Austria — US President Donald Trump warned Monday that Washington will walk away from a nuclear deal it agreed to with Iran and five other nations if it deems that the International Atomic Energy Agency is not tough enough in monitoring it. The warning from Trump came in a message to the UN agency’s annual meeting, being held in Vienna, that was read by US Energy Secretary Rick Perry. The United States asserts that Iran is obligated to open its military sites to IAEA inspection on demand if the agency suspects unreported nuclear activities at any of them. That’s something Tehran stridently rejects, and Iranian nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi urged the agency and its head, Yukiya Amano, to “resist such unacceptable demands.”
Asserting that Iran is fully complying with terms of the accord, Salehi said the greatest threat to its survival is “the American administration’s hostile attitude.”
But Trump, as quoted by Perry, suggested the deal could stand or fail on IAEA access to Iranian military sites, declaring “we will not accept a weakly enforced or inadequately monitored deal.”
Amano also has said the IAEA’s policing authority extends to Iranian military sites, if necessary.
But he said Monday that Iran “is fulfilling the commitments it entered into” under the deal, which took effect on October 18, 2015, and offers sanctions relief in exchange for limits on Iranian nuclear programs that could be turned toward making weapons.
“Iran is now subject to the world’s most robust nuclear verification regime,” he said. “The nuclear-related commitments undertaken by Iran under the JCPOA are being implemented.” READ MORE
