The Obama administration will not penalize Iran for exceeding limits set forth in last summer’s nuclear deal that pertain to the country’s ability to stockpile nuclear-related material.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said in a recent report that Iran violated the nuclear deal by exceeding its limit for heavy water, a material used in the production of weapons-grade plutonium. The State Department would not call the incident a “formal violation” Wednesday, and told reporters Thursday that it did not see the 130-metric-ton threshold laid out in the nuclear deal as a “hard, certain figure.”
“If you look at the wording within the [nuclear deal], it actually says that Iran’s needs, consistent with the parameters … are estimated to be 130 metric tons.” State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters. “That’s not a hard certain figure.”
Toner added that penalizing Iran for violations of the nuclear deal is “something that has to be calibrated” and “looked at very closely.”
“If we see a trend line here here, or if we see bigger infractions, or infractions elsewhere that are more serious, that’s always an assessment that the IAEA as well as the other [nuclear deal] partners are going to have to make,” he said.
Toner said he was not going to “use the ‘v word'” to describe Iran’s possession of excess heavy water, since the country “owned up” to its error.
“If Iran refused to abide by that limit, or obfuscated or tried to hide the ball…then that would be a major concern, and that could be considered a violation,” Toner continued. “But they’re not.”
Iran said it would export roughly five metric tons of heavy water in the coming days, though it is unclear to whom. The country was roughly one-tenth of a metric ton above the deal’s 130 metric ton limit.
After Iran exceeded the heavy water threshold in February, the Obama administration bought 32 tons of Iranian heavy water for roughly $8.6 million dollars. The purchase ensured that the country remained in compliance with the nuclear deal.
A Department of Energy official told THE WEEKLY STANDARD Thursday that they did not “expect the U.S. government to directly purchase any Iranian heavy water in the near future,” but would not rule out future purchases.
