Washington, DC – Today, reporting indicates that once again the International Atomic Energy Agency has found Iran to be in compliance with its obligations under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. While we have many concerns about other activities undertaken by the Iranian government and military, they have proven time and time again to be good faith partners in the nuclear agreement.
This new report comes at a time of increasing pressure on the JCPOA. President Trump has indicated he will not uphold American commitments under the deal unless our Congress and allies in European are able to extract additional concessions from Iran that are unrelated to nuclear nonproliferation. And Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister recently expressed that uncertainty sown by the U.S. is preventing economic benefits from reaching Iranians — a situation that makes it more and more difficult for Iran’s leadership to justify remaining in the accord.
Nuclear proliferation is a terrible threat to our security and that of our allies and partners. The JCPOA is an effective element of global efforts to prevent proliferation and its implementation included some of the most ambitious and intrusive nonproliferation mechanisms in history. American interests are best served by preserving this diplomatic success, not condemning it to a slow death by undermining the benefits that motivate Iranian compliance or dismantling both the deal and our international credibility by reimposing sanctions in May.
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