The United States announced the end of waivers that allowed countries to cooperate with Iran on civil nuclear projects under the 2015 nuclear deal.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Wednesday that the waivers will end following a 60-day wind-down period that is meant to allow businesses to cease operations.
“I am announcing the end of the sanctions waiver covering all remaining JCPOA-originating nuclear projects in Iran – the Arak reactor conversion, the provision of enriched uranium for the Tehran Research Reactor, and the export of Iran’s spent and scrap research reactor fuel,” Pompeo said in a statement.
The top US diplomat said that an exception would be made to provide a 90-day extension for the waiver that covers ongoing international support to Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant Unit 1 to ensure safety of operations. “We will continue to closely monitor all developments in Iran’s nuclear program and can modify this waiver at any time,” Pompeo said.
Pompeo also announced that the US will be imposing sanctions on the Iran nuclear officials, Majid Agha’i and Amjad Sazgar, “for engaging or attempting to engage in activities that have materially contributed to, or pose a risk of materially contributing to, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.”
The announcement is the latest increment in the Trump administration’s maximum pressure campaign on Iran, which Pompeo has said is meant to change Tehran’s behavior.
“Politically, such waivers don’t square with a policy of maximum pressure,” said Behnam Ben Taleblu, a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
President Donald Trump has said that he would like to negotiate what he calls a better deal with Iran and the move to end waivers might be part of a campaign to advance that goal, Taleblu said. “Revoking waivers could be the administration negotiating in plain sight with Iran,” he said. “By resetting what the Washington will and will not tolerate, it is forcing Tehran to fight for every inch” of its civil nuclear program in any potential agreement.
European nations and other parties to the nuclear deal, including Russia and China, have continued to work with Iran within the framework of the 2015 pact, which eased economic sanctions on Tehran in exchange for limits on its nuclear program. The waivers allowed companies from these countries to work with Iran on civil nuclear projects.
