Iran hints at rift if U.S. quits nuke deal

Iran’s top nuclear official said Monday that his country might rethink its cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency if President Donald Trump scrapped U.S. participation in the 2015 agreement limiting Iranian nuclear activities.

The warning, from Ali Akbar Salehi, president of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, went beyond generic threats of unspecified Iranian reprisals if Trump reneges on the deal, reached with Iran and six world powers, including the U.S.

The International Atomic Energy Agency is the nuclear nonproliferation monitoring arm of the United Nations. It polices Iran’s compliance with the accord, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

The agency’s ability to ensure that compliance, through a strict regimen of inspections, is considered critical to the survival of the accord, which is intended to ensure that Iran’s nuclear activities remain peaceful.

The agency’s periodic reports since the accord took effect have shown that Iran is complying with its terms. Iran has repeatedly asserted that it will never develop nuclear weapons.

The country’s official Islamic Republic News Agency said that Salehi had made the threat of rethinking compliance in a telephone call with Yukiya Amano, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which is based in Vienna.

Fredrik Dahl, a spokesman for Amano, confirmed that Amano and Salehi had had a telephone conversation but he declined to comment on the contents.

The call came days before Trump must decide whether to continue waiving U.S. nuclearrelated sanctions on Iran, as required by the agreement. Under a U.S. law, Trump must make that decision every three months.

Trump has described the agreement, negotiated under President Barack Obama, as the “worst deal” ever. He has repeatedly threatened to renounce it if Iran does not agree to more stringent conditions.