TEHRAN(Bazaar) – Professor Frank N. von Hippel, former assistant director for national security in the White House Office of Science and Technology, says The Biden government has made a very bad mistake because it did not return to JCPOA quickly And set the condition for Iran's return to compliance with JCPOA.
Following is the text of the interview with Professor Frank N. von Hippel.
Bazaar: Rafael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, says that access to the necessary data for the verification of Iran's activities requires Tehran to return to its obligations under the JCPOA. Accordingly, the IAEA seeks to force Tehran to fully comply with the JCPOA without the lifting of sanctions imposed by Trump. What is your assessment?
Frank N. von Hippel: It is not the IAEA’s job to force Iran to comply with the JCPOA. The IAEA can only carry out the inspections that Iran accepts. I am afraid that the Biden Administration may have decided to try to get Iran to rejoin the JCPOA without the US committing to lift all the sanctions imposed by Trump.
Bazaar: While IAEA is pressuring Iran to comply fully with the JCPOA that the reduction of Iran's obligations under the JCPOA is not a violation of the IAEA NPT and safeguards and is related just to the JCPOA which the United States has violated and Europe has not complied with. The agency seems to have played a political role. Because Iran has fulfilled its obligations under the NPT. What is your opinion?
Frank N. von Hippel: Under the JCPOA, Iran accepted more transparency than the minimum required of non-nuclear-weapon-state parties to the NPT – in particular, the Additional Protocol, the monitoring of Iran’s uranium mines and of Iran’s centrifuge production. I disagree with Iran’s government, however, with regard to Modified Code 3.1, which requires Iran to provide design information to the IAEA for any new nuclear facility, such as a uranium-enrichment facility, as soon as the decision is made to construct. After the discovery of Iraq’s clandestine enrichment program, modified Code 3.1 became a part of the basic IAEA safeguards agreement.
Bazaar: The Supreme Leader of Iran has stated in his recent speech that there is no rush to return to the JCPOA. It seems that Iran is looking to not easily lose the result of 3 years of resistance. The Biden government, on the other hand, is in no hurry. How do you assess the current trend?
Frank N. von Hippel: I am very worried that the Biden Administration has made a very bad mistake in not quickly rejoining the JCPOA conditioned only on Iran coming back into compliance.
Bazaar: Considering the current developments regarding the JCPOA, it seems that the talks will not take place sooner than the Iranian presidential elections. Biden seemed keen to start talks sooner rather than later, but his positions and those of his foreign policy team have changed. If you think there has been a change, what are the reasons?
Frank N. von Hippel: I agree that there has been a change and I believe the reason is domestic politics. The Republicans believe in Trump’s policy and so do a significant number of Congressional Democrats. Biden is prioritizing his domestic policy initiatives and is avoiding a huge policy battle over his Iran policy.
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