Argentina's IAEA Chief Candidate Says Agency Has No 'Magic Wand' To Fix JCPOA

(@FahadShabbir)

Argentina's IAEA Chief Candidate Says Agency Has No 'Magic Wand' to Fix JCPOA

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 10th September, 2019) One of the top candidates for the post of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director general, Rafael Grossi, told Sputnik that the organization was committed to impartially monitoring the Iran nuclear deal (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, JCPOA), but it had limited powers in fixing the agreement, which was falling apart.

Since May, Iran has been discontinuing its obligations under the deal every 60 days in response to Washington's unilateral withdrawal from it and the pressure of renewed sanctions. While European signatories claim that they remain committed to the deal, Tehran says that since the United States' exit, Europe has failed to ensure the sanctioned country's interests under the agreement. The third round of Iran's scrapping of the accord started last week.

"As for the Agency, it is an instrument. And one has to see it as an instrument. It is an indispensable instrument, but it is an instrument... The agency has to observe the mandate.

And so for as long as the mandate exists, there is no other way for the agency than to continue faithfully, I would say, impartially and technically to report to the board of Governors what is going on in Iran. So I don't see the DG [director general] as one who can come with a magic wand and say, well, given the problems that we have here how about doing this or how about doing that. It is not what I can do even with the best of intentions," Grossi said.

The JCPOA was signed by Iran, China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union in 2015. It stipulated that Tehran significantly limit its nuclear program in exchange for the removal of nuclear-related international sanctions.

After Washington's withdrawal last year, Iran first increased its enriched uranium stockpile beyond the 300 kilogram limit (661 Pounds) set by the JCPOA and then began enriching uranium beyond the allowed 3.67 percent level.