U.N. Says Obama’s Nuke Deal With Iran Does Not Give Them Enough Access To Investigate Their Nuclear Weapons Program

From Reuters:

The U.N. nuclear watchdog’s increased access in Iranto monitor a landmark agreement with world powers still falls short of what it says it needs to investigate suspicions that Tehran may have worked on designing an atomic bomb. 

It is also a far cry from the wide-ranging inspection powers the International Atomic Energy Agency had in Iraq in the 1990s to help unearth and dismantle Saddam Hussein’s clandestine nuclear program after the first Gulf war. 

Nevertheless, the IAEA will see its role in Iran expand significantly under the November 24 interim accord between the country and the six major powers, the implementation of which will start next Monday. 

Since the deal is only preliminary, the IAEA and its investigation may gain more prominence in later talks on a final settlement of the decade-old dispute over Iran’s nuclear program, but it remains to be seen how far it will go. 

“This is just an appetizer, I guess … a starter,” former chief U.N. nuclear inspector Herman Nackaerts said. The deal struck in Geneva seven weeks ago focuses on capping Iran’s output of fissile material, which can be used for atomic arms if refined further, and not on any research it may have undertaken in how to make a bomb out of it. 

Western diplomats and nuclear experts say the IAEA also needs to carry out its long-stalled inquiry into alleged tests and other activity by Iran that could be used for nuclear arms development, partly to make sure that any such work has ceased.