UN says Iran is violating nuclear deal

In contravention to the nuclear deal, Iran has again exceeded the heavy water limits allowed under the agreement.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nations (UN) agency monitoring the nuclear pact between Iran and six world powers, revealed Wednesday that Iran is violating the deal by storing more heavy water than the agreement allows.

Heavy water is used to cool reactors that can produce substantial amounts of plutonium. The plutonium can be applied to making the fissile core of nuclear warheads.

The IAEA said in a confidential report obtained by The Associated Press that Iran had exceeded the heavy water allowance of 130 metric tons (143.3 tons) only slightly — by 100 kilograms (220 pounds.)

The report also says that Iran has announced it will resolve the issue by exporting five metric tons within the next few days. The report did not specify to which country or countries the exports would be going. It has gone to Russia and the US in the past, and that arrangement was criticized by Congress as facilitating Iranian violations of the deal.

This breach of the agreement was Iran’s second since the signing of the deal a year ago, and raises further fears that Iran may be systematically violating the deal, while the IAEA discovers only the tip of the iceberg.

In February, a month after the deal went into effect, the agency noted Iran’s first violation when it exceeded its allotted limit of heavy water. The amount was greater in that case.

Israel has repeatedly warned the world that Iran has no intention of curbing its nuclear weapons program and will do all it can to circumvent the deal and obtain an atomic bomb.

President-Elect Donald Trump derided the nuclear deal during September’s presidential debate, saying the agreement was “the worst ever signed.”

The deal, he said, was “another beauty where you have a country that was ready to fall, I mean, they were doing so badly. They were choking on the sanctions. And now they’re going to be actually probably a major power at some point pretty soon, the way they’re going.”

On another occasion, he announced that his “number-one priority is to dismantle the disastrous deal with Iran.”

By: World Israel News Staff
AP contributed to this report.