Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSign up WASHINGTON, Sept 2 (Reuters) – The White House on Friday rejected linking the revival of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal to the closure of investigations by the U.N. nuclear watchdog, a day after Iran reopened the issue, according to with a western diplomat. Iran on Thursday sent its latest response to a text proposed by the European Union (EU) to revive the deal under which it had curbed its nuclear program in exchange for relief from US, EU and UN economic sanctions. Then-US President Donald Trump abandoned the deal in 2018 and reimposed US sanctions, prompting Iran to begin violating the accord’s nuclear restrictions and reviving US, Arab and Israeli fears that it may be seeking an atomic bomb . Iran denies it has nuclear ambitions. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSign up “There should be no condition between the re-implementation of the JCPOA and investigations related to Iran’s legal obligations under the Non-Proliferation Treaty,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said, referring to the deal as official known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan. action. Jean-Pierre was referring to investigations by the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) into traces of uranium found at three undeclared Iranian sites. Resolving the so-called safeguards investigations is critical for the UN agency, which seeks to ensure that parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons do not secretly divert nuclear material that they could use to make weapons. A senior US official on August 23 said Iran had “basically given up” on some of the main obstacles to reviving the 2015 deal, including the IAEA, but the issue appeared to have been put on hold. read more A Western diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity said on Friday that Iran had reopened the issue in its latest response, which Tehran called constructive, a characterization the United States disputed. Iran’s foreign minister this week said the IAEA should abandon “politically motivated investigations” into Tehran’s nuclear project. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSign up Reporting by Aexandra Alper and Doina Chiacu in Washington Additional reporting by John Irish in Paris, Parisa Hafezi in Dubai and Arshad Mohammed in Saint Paul, Minn. Edited by Matthew Lewis Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
