Iran nuke deal monitoring panel to hold first meeting

The first meeting of an international panel charged with monitoring the implementation of the Iran nuclear deal is set to be held on the sidelines of the 70th United Nations General Assembly next month, the semi-official Iranian Fars News Agency reported on Monday.

No specific date has been given for the meeting that will come sometime during the UN gathering, which begins on September 15.

The Joint Commission, as established by the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) — the official name of the nuclear deal — is comprised of representatives from Iran and the P5+1 nations that signed the nuclear agreement, Britain, the US, France, China, Russia and Germany. It is headed by the European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini who serves as the coordinator.

The commission is charged with monitoring Iranian compliance with limitations set on its nuclear activities as agreed to in the nuclear deal and with reviewing the lifting of international sanctions imposed on Tehran.

The panel is set to meet on a quarterly basis.

Iran and the P5+1 countries signed the JCPOA framework agreement on July 14. The deal was approved a week later by the United Nations Security Council and the European Union.

The US Congress is set to vote next month on whether or not to approve the deal, which is strongly opposed by Israel and Republicans who argue that it doesn’t go far enough in preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons and monitoring its nuclear work.

Last week, the Associated Press published a report based on a document indicating that the UN-affiliated nuclear watchdog ceded investigative authority of a key Iranian site to Iranian inspectors.

According to the secret agreement between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency — which is part of the overarching nuclear deal — Tehran will be allowed to use its own experts to inspect the Parchin facility, where it is suspected that past nuclear work was developed.

The US and the five other world powers that signed the Iran nuclear deal were not party to this agreement but were briefed on it by the IAEA and endorsed it as part of the larger package.

Iran has refused access to Parchin for years. Based on US, Israeli and other intelligence and its own research, the IAEA suspects that the Islamic Republic may have experimented with high-explosive detonators for nuclear arms at that military facility. The IAEA has also repeatedly cited evidence, based on satellite images, of possible attempts to sanitize the site since the alleged work stopped more than a decade ago.

The revelation was met with furious cynicism by Israel and US Republican leaders, with a leading senator calling the agreement to have Iran inspect its own suspect site “remarkably naive and incredibly reckless.”

Israel’s Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz immediately issued a caustic response. “One must welcome this global innovation and outside-the-box thinking,” he said in a statement dripping with sarcasm. “One can only wonder if the Iranian inspectors will also have to wait 24 days before being able to visit the site and look for incriminating evidence?”