Sources: UN report on Iran nuclear compliance likely Saturday
US waiting for confirmation from IAEA before lifting sanctions; report expected to say Iran has met obligations of atomic deal
VIENNA, Austria (AFP) — The UN atomic watchdog will likely confirm on Saturday morning that Iran has complied with the terms of last July’s landmark deal, diplomatic sources said Friday.
The eagerly-awaited report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which Iran had said could be released Friday, will clear the way for the lifting of painful sanctions on Tehran.
It will say that Iran has scaled down key areas of its nuclear activities in line with the July 2014 agreement, which aimed to render impossible any dash to build nuclear weapons.
The measures include Iran slashing by two-thirds its number of uranium enrichment centrifuges, removing the core of its Arak reactor and sharply reducing its stock of uranium.
The US is waiting for the nod from the UN’s atomic agency before lifting the sanctions that ultimately drove the Islamic republic to the negotiating table, the White House said Friday.
In order for the economic measures to be lifted, Iran must meet certain conditions outlined in an agreement on its nuclear program with world powers reached in July 2015.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Iran was making “important progress” toward curbing its nuclear program, and that it was possible Tehran had already completed all the necessary steps.
But he said Iran would not get any sanctions relief until the International Atomic Energy Agency has independently verified that all steps have been completed.
The US, he said, wants to make sure Iran doesn’t “cut any corners.”
The hard-fought agreement was sealed in Vienna after two years of rollercoaster negotiations that began in earnest after the June 2013 election of Hassan Rouhani as Iran’s president.