A year into nuke deal, White House says Iran ‘upholding its commitments’
Four days before Trump administration takes over, Obama’s team lauds agreement as ‘making the world safer’
WASHINGTON — On the one-year anniversary of the Iran nuclear deal, the Obama administration said Tehran has been “upholding its commitments” in the landmark pact, a development it argued has prevented the regime from developing a nuclear arsenal.
The deal, the White House said in a press release Monday, has “achieved significant, concrete results,” such as subjecting Iran to an intrusive inspection and verification program, reducing its uranium stockpile by 98 percent and dismantling more than two-thirds of its centrifuges.
The statement came a year to the day into the accord’s implementation via an executive order by President Barack Obama, after International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors confirmed the Islamic Republic had dismantled most of its nuclear program in accordance with the deal.
That action paved the way for Iran to reenter the international finance system, freeing up Iranian assets estimated to be worth $100 billion to $150 billion, although the administration has insisted that figure is, in reality, much lower.
In April 2016, US Secretary of State John Kerry said Iran had received, by then, roughly $3 billion.
In his own statement Monday, Kerry said, “There is no doubt that the deal is working and all participants are keeping their commitments,” and insisted the pact “demonstrated the power of sustained, principled, multilateral diplomacy.”
Israel, and particularly Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was a vociferous opponent of the accord and lobbied to thwart it.
Kerry’s statement came shortly after the IAEA confirmed Iran removed its excess centrifuges and infrastructure from the Fordo Fuel Enrichment Plant, an underground uranium enrichment facility, and transferred them to the Natanz Fuel Enrichment Plant, which is under the monitoring of the agency.
While lauding the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action — as the deal is formally known — for “making the world a safer place,” the White House did express consternation about ongoing Iranian behavior that threatens to destabilize the region and inflict harm on US interests and its allies, particularly Israel.
“We have remained steadfast in opposing Iran’s threats against Israel and our Gulf partners and its support for violent proxies in places like Syria and Yemen,” the statement said. “We continue to be concerned about US citizens unjustly imprisoned in Iran. And our sanctions on Iran for its human rights abuses, its support for terrorist groups, and its ballistic missile program will remain until Iran pursues a new path on those issues.
“There is no question, however, that the challenges we face with Iran would be much worse if Iran were also on the threshold of building a nuclear weapon,” it added.
The anniversary falls four days before Obama transfers power to the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump, who made undoing the deal one of his signature campaign vows.
Since being elected, however, his top advisers have signaled that Trump will not withdraw from the deal unilaterally unless Iran violates its terms, although incoming chief of staff Reince Priebus said Sunday the deal was on “life support.”
Last week, Trump’s choice to head the Pentagon, James “Mad Dog” Mattis, told the Senate Armed Services Committee in his confirmation hearing that the United States should honor its commitment to the deal.
Despite it being an “imperfect arms control agreement,” he said, “when America gives her word, we have to live up to it and work with our allies.”
