Days after the US president walked away from a three-year-old nuclear deal, senior administration officials said monitoring should continue regardless.
Known officially as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the deal between Tehran and major world powers forces Iran to open any site to inspectors within 24 days at most and introduced 24-hour remote surveillance at some sites.
Speaking at a rally in Indiana on Thursday Trump said tough inspections were still needed.
“We must be able to go to a site and check that site. We have to be able to go into their military bases to see whether or not they’re cheating,” he said.
The White House is demanding the existing inspection regime continue under the aegis of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN nuclear watchdog.
“We expect Iran will continue to implement the Additional Protocol and cooperate with the IAEA whether or not the JCPOA remains in place,” one senior administration official told AFP.
A second official confirmed to AFP on Thursday that Washington still wanted the inspections.
Other signatories to the Iran deal — including Tehran, China and European powers — have vowed to press ahead with the agreement’s implementation.
However, Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, Imam Sayyed Ali Khamenei said it was illogical that Tehran stays in the deal with other signatories without solid guarantees from the Europeans.
Since the nuclear accord was reached in 2015, the IAEA has carried out hundreds of inspections inside Iran, confirming that the Islamic Republic has been adhering to its nuclear-related commitments.
Source: AFP and Al-Manar
