US restores waiver to permit Iran nuclear safety projects

'We are issuing the waiver now for a simple reason: it will enable some of our international partners to have more detailed technical discussions' on addressing Iran non-proliferation concerns, State

The State Department said Friday (February 4) that it had restored a sanctions waiver to permit third countries to perform nuclear non-proliferation and safety projects in Iran as specified in the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, and to facilitate discussions on how to deal with Iran’s growing stockpile of enriched uranium.

The action will help facilitate detailed technical discussions with Russia, Europe and China as talks on trying to restore the 2015 Iran nuclear deal are expected to resume in Vienna early next week. But the waiver does not signal that a deal on a mutual return to full implementation of the nuclear pact, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), is a sure thing, the Department said.

“We are issuing the waiver now for a simple reason:  it will enable some of our international partners to have more detailed technical discussions to enable cooperation that we view as being in our non-proliferation interests,” a senior State Department official said in a statement sent to me to explain the action. 

Under the JCPOA, Iran’s stockpile of low enriched uranium was shipped out to Russia, and its heavy water was shipped to Oman. The waivers were renewed even under the Trump administration for a time, even after Trump quit the deal in 2018.

“We decided to restore a sanctions waiver to enable third party participation in nuclear non-proliferation and safety projects in Iran due to growing non-proliferation concerns, in particular with respect to increasing stockpiles of enriched uranium in Iran,” the statement said.

“Absent this sanctions waiver, detailed technical discussions with third parties regarding disposition of stockpiles and other activities of nonproliferation value cannot take place,” the statement continued.

“This is not a signal that we are about to reach an understanding on a mutual return to full implementation of the JCPOA,” it said. “If talks do not result in a return to the nuclear agreement, such technical discussions could still contribute to achieving our non-proliferation goals.”

“We made progress narrowing down the list of differences to just the key priorities on all sides,” a senior State Department official told journalists Jan. 31, about the last round of very intensive Iran talks in Vienna over most of January. “And that’s why now is a time for political decisions.”

Full statement from the senior State Department official today on the waiver:

·        We decided to restore a sanctions waiver to enable third party participation in nuclear non-proliferation and safety projects in Iran due to growing non-proliferation concerns, in particular with respect to increasing stockpiles of enriched uranium in Iran.  

·        Absent this sanctions waiver, detailed technical discussions with third parties regarding disposition of stockpiles and other activities of nonproliferation value cannot take place.  

·        The Trump Administration provided a similar waiver for years, even after its reckless decision to leave the JCPOA, in recognition of this non-proliferation value.  We are now returning to that status quo.  

·        Additionally, the technical discussions facilitated by the waiver are necessary in the final weeks of JCPOA talks, and the waiver itself would be essential to ensuring Iran’s swift compliance with its nuclear commitments.  If talks do not result in a return to the nuclear agreement, such technical discussions could still contribute to achieving our non-proliferation goals.

·        This is not a signal that we are about to reach an understanding on a mutual return to full implementation of the JCPOA.

·        We are issuing the waiver now for a simple reason:  it will enable some of our international partners to have more detailed technical discussions to enable cooperation that we view as being in our non-proliferation interests. 

·        To be clear: this is not a concession to Iran. The nuclear non-proliferation and safety projects enabled by this waiver are in our vital national interest as well as the interest of the region and the world — and will continue to be regardless of the outcome of talks in Vienna.

·        The waiver was issued as a matter of policy discretion with these objectives in mind, and not pursuant to a commitment or as part of a quid pro quo.