Iran Breaks Nuclear Deal, But the Obama Administration Won’t Say It’s a ‘Formal Violation” by Jenna Lifhits
http://www.weeklystandard.com/iran-breaks-nuclear-deal-but-the-obama-administration-wont-say-its-a-formal-violation/article/2005321
A new report by the International Atomic Energy Agency revealed that Iran is in violation of last summer’s nuclear deal. According to the report, the regime in Tehran has again exceeded the deal’s threshold for heavy water, marking the second such violation since the implementation of the agreement in January. The Obama administration, however, has not called Iran’s possession of excess nuclear-related material a “formal violation” of the deal, and has praised Iran for “acknowledging” it exceeded that threshold.
A State Department spokesman twice praised the Iranians on Wednesday for making “no attempt to hide” their excess heavy water, a material used in the production of weapons-grade plutonium. “Iran made no attempt to hide it, and they’re taking immediate steps to address it,” spokesman Mark Toner told reporters.
When asked, Toner would not call the incident a “formal violation” of the nuclear deal.
“They certainly exceeded, again, their allowable amount of heavy water,” Toner said. “Whether that constitutes, again, a formal violation of [the nuclear deal] writ large, I’m not certain about that.”
Iran is expected to export five metric tons of heavy water in coming days, though it is unknown to whom. In this case, the country was roughly one-tenth of a metric ton over the 130 metric ton limit.
An Energy Department official told THE WEEKLY STANDARD they did not “expect the U.S. government to directly purchase any Iranian heavy water in the near future,” but would not rule out future purchases.
“I can’t speculate on the future needs of U.S. industry for heavy water,” the official said.
The U.S. agreed to buy 32 tons of Iranian heavy water for $8.6 million dollars in April, ensuring that the country was in compliance with the nuclear deal.
Officials delayed responding to congressional requests for details about that purchase for weeks, deepening congressional criticism that the United States was subsidizing Iran’s heavy water production.
Lawmakers also expressed concern that taxpayer dollars were used to buy the nuclear material, and that Iran could gain access to the U.S. dollar. A number of lawmakers told TWS in July, after the payment was complete, that they had not been briefed on how the administration paid for the heavy water.
Kansas congressman Mike Pompeo, who has criticized the administration for its lack of transparency on the issue, introduced legislation in April that prohibits federal funds from being used for the purchase of Iranian heavy water in the future. That bill passed the House in July.
Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz pushed back on charges that the administration had stonewalled Congress and journalists about the deal in September.
“We were completely transparent with the heavy water purchase. That was reported to Congress and discussed with Congress,” Moniz said. “There was no mystery about it. No secrecy.”
Moniz has also said that the United States will not be Iran’s customer “forever,” and that the purchase served as a model for other countries weighing whether to buy heavy water from Iran.
The administration has emphasized that the purchase fills a “substantial portion of the U.S. domestic demand” for heavy water, which is not produced stateside.
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