Iran clashes with US at IAEA over nuclear deal
Top energy officials from the US and Iran clashed yesterday with warnings that international peace is at risk as America’s sanctions noose tightens on the Islamic Republic.
The showdown took place at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna, where hundreds of diplomats gathered for the nuclear watchdog’s annual meeting.
IAEA inspectors are charged with monitoring the landmark nuclear accord between Iran and world powers that US President Donald Trump abandoned in May.
“Let me be very clear about the negative consequences of this reckless act,” said Iran’s nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi, a key negotiator of the July 2015 accord. “This ominous move is doomed to have serious repercussions for regional and international peace and security.”
With less than seven weeks before the US reimposes sanctions against Iranian oil exports, all sides are jockeying to win allegiances among allies and trading partners. While the other parties to the nuclear deal — China, France, Germany, Russia and the United Kingdom — continue to stick by the accord, their commitment has done little to convince companies to continue doing business with Tehran’s government.
In a message delivered by Energy Secretary Rick Perry, Trump told the IAEA delegates that Iran must be “permanently denied” any pathway to developing nuclear weapons, a remark that suggested Washington doesn’t want Iran to be able to maintain even the token enrichment capacity allowed under the deal.
“The JCPOA was a flawed deal that failed to address continued Iranian misconduct,” Perry said. The United States says that Iranian interference from Yemen to Syria is responsible for helping to destabilise the Middle East.
The IAEA has warned of higher oil prices as Iranian supply losses deepen heading into November.