UK foreign minister says nuclear archive proves Iran deal’s value

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson echoes the pro-nuclear deal sentiments of other European leaders following Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s public revelation that Israel had obtained a massive archive of documents from Iran’s nuclear program.

He says in a statement:

The Israeli Prime Minister’s presentation on Iran’s past research into nuclear weapons technology underlines the importance of keeping the Iran nuclear deal’s constraints on Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.

The Iran nuclear deal is not based on trust about Iran’s intentions; rather it is based on tough verification, including measures that allow inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency unprecedented access to Iran’s nuclear programme.

The fact that Iran conducted sensitive research in secret until 2003 shows why we need the intrusive inspections allowed by the Iran nuclear deal today. The verification provisions in the Iran nuclear deal would make it harder for Iran to restart any such research. That is another good reason for keeping the deal while building on it in order to take account of the legitimate concerns of the US and our other allies.”