Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 24
By Farhad Daneshvar – Trend:
Barbara Slavin of the Atlantic Council estimates that all the damages to the 2015 nuclear deal have already been done, but the historic accord is here to stay.
“Both sides have violated the spirit of the deal, but I think both sides will keep to the letter of the deal, because it is of mutual interest,” Barbara Slavin, the director of the Future of Iran Initiative at the Atlantic Council, told Trend.
In accordance with the United States’ law, Trump administration has declared Iran compliant of the nuclear deal, twice, so far.
Nonetheless, President Trump has threatened with the declaration of Iran’s non-compliancy, for the next review in September.
“Trump complained bitterly about the deal during the campaign and has continued to criticize it. But he is absorbed with other issues now, including getting funding for his ‘border wall’ with Mexico, renegotiating NAFTA and surviving the Russia investigation. So I do not believe this is a major priority for him,” Barbara Slavin said.
On Tuesday, the chief of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, Ali Akbar Salehi, said that his country is capable of resuming high-level uranium enrichment process within five days, if the US tears up the nuclear deal.
“I believe that the US will continue to declare Iran compliant, but it will couple this with more non-nuclear sanctions and angry rhetoric,” Barbara Slavin added.
US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley meeting with the Atomic Energy Agency's Director Yukiya Amano, in Vienna, Austria on Wednesday, had said that Washington is determined to ensure the International Atomic Energy Agency of the resources it needs for "robust verification of nuclear-related activities in Iran."
In the statement after the meeting Ambassador Nikki Haley said that discussion with the U.N. nuclear agency's director was concentrated on "ensuring [that] Iran strictly adheres to its obligations."
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, earlier this month, had warned that his country could abandon the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA/nuclear deal) within hours, if the US keeps on imposing new sanctions.
Responding to a question on the possibility of renegotiating the nuclear deal, Barbara Slavin played down such a possibility, saying Trump’s team is ill-equipped to conduct these talks.
“They do not even have the personnel that would be required to undertake such a renegotiation.”