Emerging Iran deal includes compromise on inspections
VIENNA – A landmark Iran nuclear agreement was taking shape early today after clearing final obstacles, and a senior diplomat said it included a compromise between Washington and Tehran that would allow U.N. inspectors to press for visits to Iranian military sites as part of their monitoring duties.
But access at will to any site would not necessarily be granted and even if so, could be delayed, a condition that critics of the deal are sure to seize on as possibly giving Tehran time to cover any sign of non-compliance with its commitments.
Under the deal, Tehran would have the right to challenge the U.N. request and an arbitration board composed of Iran and the six world powers that negotiated with it would have to decide on the issue.
Still, such an arrangement would be a notable departure from assertions by top Iranian officials that their country would never allow the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency into such sites. Iran has argued that such visits by the IAEA would be a cover for spying on its military secrets.
Contacted shortly before daybreak, the diplomat said final drafting of the deal was still going on.
While access is a key part of monitoring envisaged cuts on Tehran’s present nuclear activities, it is also important for the IAEA as it tries to kick-start nearly a decade of stalled attempts to probe allegations that Iran worked on nuclear arms. Washington says Iran must cooperate with the IAEA’s probe as part of any overall deal before all sanctions on it are lifted.
The Iranians insist they have never worked on weapons and have turned down IAEA requests to visit sites where the agency suspects such work was going on.
Iran’s acceptance in principle of access to military sites will give the agency extra authority in its attempts to go to the site and its demands to interview scientists it suspects were involved in the alleged nuclear weapons work.
Any deal will go to the U.N. Security Council.
The deal also must address Iran’s call that an arms embargo on it be lifted or at least modified – and U.S. opposition to the demand. Washington wants to maintain the ban on importing and exporting weapons, concerned that an Iran flush with cash from the nuclear deal would expand its military assistance for Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government, Yemen’s Houthi rebels, the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and other forces opposing America’s Mideast allies such as Saudi Arabia and Israel.