Iran will allow international inspectors into two sites suspected to house “undeclared nuclear material and activities,” a concession to a rare instance of unified pressure from President Trump and European allies.
“It’s a win, in that this entire investigation is moving forward,” said Foundation for Defense of Democracies senior analyst Richard Goldberg, a former Trump official. “But for the Trump administration continuing to push the issue in Vienna, we would never have even reached this point of even understanding the depths of Iran’s deception with respect to their undeclared nuclear activities.”
Iran’s refusal to permit International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors into a pair of suspicious sites troubled U.S. and European officials, who set aside an abiding dispute over the enforcement of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal to pass an IAEA resolution condemning Iran’s lack of transparency. That resolution, the first of its kind to pass in eight years, drew condemnation from Iranian officials in June, but the United Nations agency announced Wednesday that Tehran had backed down.
“Iran is voluntarily providing the IAEA with access to the two locations specified by the IAEA and facilitating the IAEA verification activities to resolve these issues,” IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi announced in a joint statement with Iranian nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi.
Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif had attempted to link the issue to the dispute over the nuclear accord, an issue that has divided Trump’s team from European capitals since his withdrawal from the pact in 2018, but Western governments agreed to condemn the regime’s defiance of its obligations under the nuclear nonproliferation treaty.
Grossi and Iranian officials struck their agreement just days after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made a unilateral move to initiate the “snapback” of all the international sanctions lifted by the 2015 deal despite the objections of European allies who maintain that the United States lacks the legal right to take that step given that Trump left the accord. That context diminished the significance of the announcement in the eyes of some Iran hawks.
“It’s noise,” a congressional Republican aide said. “Everyone’s positions are set. It’s a delay to not have to immediately refer Iran to the” U.N. Security Council for flouting the nonproliferation treaty.
Goldberg agreed that Iran is trying to avoid European pressure during the fight with Trump’s administration. “This is sort of a tactical retreat for the Iranians because I think they do want to avoid a special board meeting of the IAEA where, in the midst of the snapback, they continue to highlight their nuclear deceit,” he said. “They’ve bought themselves some time, probably until the election.”
