Page 7 - IRANRptJun20

Arms embargo
sanctions drawn up by the US. Iran’s leadership has warned of a scenario in which Iran resigns from the JCPOA because no significant benefit of staying in it has been provided by fellow remaining deal signatories.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on May 27 that Iran’s continued “nuclear brinkmanship” in breaching some of its nuclear commitments meant renewing the waivers for civilian nuclear cooperation was no longer justified. “The regime’s nuclear extortion will lead to increased pressure on Iran and further isolate the regime from the international community,”​ ​he said.
Nuclear nonproliferation experts will be concerned that the withdrawal of the waivers will mean international experts no longer have effective insight into Tehran’s nuclear activities. They point out that foreign experts have been helping with scientific nuclear research that is fully civilian, such as in the field of medicine.
The European JCPOA signatories, along with fellow signatories Russia and China, may be far from impressed that Washington has made its waivers move at a time when it is seeking their cooperation to extend a UN arms embargo on Iran.
The end of the “civilian-nuclear cooperation” waivers applies to work at Iran's Arak heavy water research reactor, the securing of enriched uranium for the Tehran Research Reactor and the shipping abroad of spent and scrap reactor fuel. Companies involved at these facilities now have a 60-day wind-down period to cease operations or face sanctions, according to the US announcement. A 90-day extension for the waiver covering international activity at Iran’s Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, to ensure safety of operations, has also been earmarked.
The Trump administration claims Iran’s civilian nuclear waivers have enabled Iran access to technology that could be used in the development of nuclear weapons. But in extending the waivers in the past, the Trump administration implicitly recognised the nonproliferation benefits of the civilian projects, noted RFE/RL​.
Iran insists it can avoid economic collapse and, if necessary, can successfully continue with its civilian nuclear programme solely deploying its own experts.
2.3​ ​No intervention from US as Iranian fuel relief tankers dock in Venezuela
Ultra-hardline Iranian daily ​Kayhan​ has described the arrival in Venezuela of tankers from Iran sent to relieve the South American country’s crippling fuel shortage as "humiliation for America in the Caribbean". Venezuela, like Iran, is under crushing US sanctions and the opportunity taken by the two countries to help each other out—the Iranians, who, like the Venezuelans, are facing severe economic problems caused by US sanctions, will earn welcome revenue from the tanker deliveries—is seen by both countries as a slap in the face for Washington. After the tankers departed for Venezuela, the Trump administration said it was considering options for a “response” but so far there has been no White House move prompted by the shipments.
7​ IRAN Country Report June 2020 www.intellinews.com