VIENNA: A senior Iranian official is accusing the U.S. of violating the nuclear deal with his country through comments indicating that the accord would make any attack on Tehran's atomic program more efficient because it would result in greater insight about potential targets. The July 14 deal foresees increased overview of Iran's nuclear activities by the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency. Reza Najafi, the IAEA's chief Iranian delegate, quoted White House spokesman Josh Earnest as saying that would result in enhanced U.S. or Israeli military action against Iran – if needed – "because we'd been spending the intervening number of years gathering significantly more detail about Iran's nuclear program." Israel is a harsh critic of the deal and says it is keeping all options open to prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons. The Obama administration says the agreement has accomplished its goal of preventing Tehran from getting such arms. Still, as part of White House pushback against congressional and other critics of the deal, Earnest, in his comments to reporters July 17 said that the U.S. "military option would remain on the table" if Iran breaks out of the deal and races to make a bomb. Najafi, in a July 24 letter posted to the IAEA website Wednesday, called Earnest's statement "outrageous." He said it "seriously undermines the very basic principles" needed to implement the deal, adding that the comments amount to "a material breach of the commitments" agreed to by the United States and the five other world powers at the negotiating table with Iran. Citing Earnest, Najafi also suggested that Washington could try to violate provisions of the nuclear deal committing the agency during its Iran monitoring to "protect commercial, technological and industrial secrets as well as other confidential information coming to its knowledge." The U.N. nuclear watchdog chief is "positively considering" a U.S. Senate invitation to speak about his agency's monitoring role in Iran following the nuclear deal, a diplomatic source said. Some members of the U.S. Congress, which will consider whether to approve the deal, have asked for more information to be made public relating to the International Atomic Energy Agency's part in verifying Iran's implementation of the pact. "I understand that Director General [Yukiya] Amano overnight [Vienna time] received an invitation letter from the members of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee. I also understand that he is positively considering the invitation," the source, who is familiar with the matter, told Reuters. Amano has the delicate task to assess Iran's past and future nuclear program. He has no political mandate and never tires of stressing the IAEA's technical role. He must nonetheless manage and maintain a fine balance between delivering data on Iran's nuclear activities and the major political consequences such information can have. If Iran were to break its promises made in the historic July 14 deal reached with six world powers, Amano and his inspectors would be responsible for detecting and telling the world about the breach. The nuclear agreement will have to be ratified by the U.S. Congress. It has until Sept. 17 to accept or reject it. The IAEA said it is normal practice for it not to publish safeguards arrangements with countries and that Iran is no exception, adding that the arrangement it reached with Iran on July 14 meets its requirements to clarify outstanding issues. U.S. Republicans have objected to the deal as not tough enough to stop Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon in the long run. At an emotional Senate hearing this week, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry warned that rejecting the deal would remove all limits on Iran's nuclear work, give it a fast track to a weapon and access to billions of dollars from collapsed sanctions. Under the July 14 pact, world powers agreed to lift sanctions in return for curbs on a nuclear program the West suspects was aimed at developing the means to build an atomic bomb. Tehran says it seeks only peaceful atomic energy.
