Haley Claims Russia is Protecting Iran From UN Nuclear Inspections
Of course they are.
Will President Donald Trump certify the Iran nuclear deal made under former President Barack Obama? That may not happen now since U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley has accused Russia of protecting Iran from nuclear inspections that are crucial to the deal. From Fox News:
U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley indicated Thursday that Russia was shielding Iran by blocking the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) from verifying part of the deal. The IAEA initially revealed the news to a reporter in a Q&A. Meanwhile, under a requirement from Congress, Trump must choose whether to certify the deal by October 15.
Yukiya Amano, the IAEA Director General, told Reuters that his agency’s “tools are limited,” regarding verification of section T in the nuclear deal.
Section T of the Iran nuclear deal, which is also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), prohibits activities related to “design and development” of a nuclear weapon.
Russian officials claimed that the UN does not have any authority “to police” section T of the nuclear deal. From RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty:
That section, known as section T, bans “activities which could contribute to the development of a nuclear explosive device.” It lists examples such as using computer models that simulate a nuclear bomb, or designing multi-point, explosive detonation systems.
Unlike many other parts of the deal, section T makes no mention of the IAEA and does not specify how compliance with the section will be verified.
Haley is not the only diplomat who feels this way. The United Kingdom, France, and Germany have sided with Haley’s interpretation of the deal.
Haley stated that without these inspections, “the Iran deal is an empty promise.”
Former IAEA advisor David Albright, the founder and president of the Institute for Science and International Security, suggested to Fox News that Iran denying the inspections could cause problems:
“Amano basically said that the IAEA is not implementing the verification of section T and is unsure how to proceed. He wants guidance from the Joint Commission. However, Russia has said it does not want the IAEA to verify section T. If it sticks to that position in the Joint Commission and blocks instructions to the IAEA to proceed with verifying Section T, and the IAEA does not act on its own to verify Section T or find a work around, then the verification of the JCPOA is incomplete and the deal is not fully implemented,” he said.
“Full implementation is a requirement for the President to certify under INARA (Corker-Cardin). Lack of verification of Section T would also demonstrate that the deal does not deliver like promised and promoted by deal supporters,” Albright told Fox News.
Middle East expert Omri Ceren also told Fox News that if IAEA cannot inspect or verify this portion of the deal, then Trump’s answer is easy:
“There’s no wiggle room here. The law requires the president to tell Congress yes or no, do we know if Iran has ‘fully implemented’ the deal? The U.N.’s nuclear watchdog just said they don’t know if Iran has implemented the section of the deal about nuclear weapons’ work, because Iran won’t let them into military bases where that work is likely to occur. Advocates of the Iran deal are saying the president should certify anyway. They’re asking him to lie to Congress on behalf of the deal,” Ceren said.
Trump has reluctantly re-certified the Iran deal twice before. He said on September 20 that he has reached a decision, but did not say if he picked yes or no.
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Iran is scheduled to receive between 100 – 150 billion dollars (depending on who’s numbers you believe) in once frozen assets. They owe China approx 50 billion leaving them in the neighborhood of 50 – 100 billion to spend and they’ve already said they will spend it on military hardware.
Since the signing of this “deal” Iran has agreed to enhanced military cooperation with China and allegedly purchased 10 billion worth of military hardware from Russia.
Iran and North Korea have had a history, dating back to the early 80’s, of cooperating on military development and without question the North Korean nuclear advancement since ’15 has been fantastic. Are the Iranians helping them as some have asserted?
We know that Iran just test fired a new missile system capable of traveling 2,000 kilometers (1,250 miles) which clearly puts Israel (at just under 1,100 miles) at risk. Can this new missile carry a nuclear payload like those being developed in North Korea? Well, it depends who you’d like to listen to.
Pres. Trump, like Congress, is in a no win situation thanks to a horrible deal. Pres. Trump, IMO, has no choice but to say “no”. Doing so will anger Russia and China (both are or will gain from the 100 – 150 billion deal) and could further destabilize (if that’s possible) Syria, Libya and Iraq. Moreover, Iran could increase funding, already between 50 75 million a year, to Hezbollah and Hamas. With Netanyahu in political trouble at home, Trump being second guessed by the media, Democrats and even many Republicans, it’s almost like the perfect storm for bad, horrible actors (Iran, Russia, Hezbollah, Hamas, ISIS, Assad) to gain traction. There are no good, clean, easy solutions. Pres. Obama’s “wishful” deal was like the magical thinking of a child and now the world will be faced with the consequences.
This all belongs to a feckless, careless, incompetent President…the one called Obama. This IS his legacy to the world.
We shouldn’t limit this to Barry as he wasn’t the only one responsible for what we have before us today. Just as guilty is the media who covered for Obama while this obviously ridiculous plan was being pulled together by embargoing and limiting the information that was getting out to the world.
And of course this is all going to be Trumps fault when the inevitable happens and the agreement is used like the toilet paper it is.
Once again, Republicans are forced to be the adults in the room and say “No”.
This horrible deal needs to die so that we can start reorganizing our priorities in the region. No. 1: Firm recommitment to fully supporting Israel however we can. Hate to say it but if Iran does manage to build nukes thanks to this deal than Israel may have no choice but to strike first and strike hard as an act of self preservation.
Russia’s protection in the UN was part of the Iran deal. There’s no way to deal with criminals and terrorists that doesn’t involve force eventually.
Iran has unilaterally violated every deal it has ever made with world powers since 1979. So, this should come as no surprise to anyone. The JCPOA depends entirely upon Iran actively honoring the spirit of the agreement. It is not doing that in the case of inspections. The refusal to allow inspections should be viewed not simply as a desire for for privacy but as an active measure to hide violations of the agreement. On that basis, the US should not re-certify compliance with the JCOPA, by Iran, and demand that all applicable sanctions be reinstated. The effects of this will be limited, as the JCOPA specifically exempts any contractual agreements, which exist at the time of the reinstatement of the sanctions, which do not directly relate to the activities prohibited in the JCOPA. And, the decision of the US is not binding upon any of the other parties.
Decertifying the JCOPA will not cause the Iranians to cease their nuclear program. It will not force them to allow inspections. It will do nothing to make the world safer, except possibly removing a source of future funds. This would only be temporary, as funds can be acquired from other sources. And, it is simply a political agreement among the parties, not a binding document in any sense. In other words, it is, and always was, useless, given Iran’s historic practice of ignoring all international agreements which it does not like.