Intel: Trump administration defended Iran nuclear waivers as 'restrictions,' then ended them
The Donald Trump administration ended sanctions waivers on Iranian nuclear facilities today — a mere two months after characterizing them as “restrictions” on Iran’s nuclear program.
The Donald Trump administration today ended sanctions waivers that allowed foreign companies to do work at certain Iranian nuclear facilities. The move comes a mere two months after the administration had characterized the waivers as “restrictions” on Iran’s nuclear program.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the United States would end three of the remaining waivers — some of the last remnants of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal — after a two-month wind-down period. At the same time, he announced that the United States would renew a fourth waiver for three months.
“The Iranian regime has continued its nuclear brinkmanship by expanding proliferation sensitive activities,” Pompeo said in a statement. “These escalatory actions are unacceptable, and I cannot justify renewing the waiver for these [nuclear deal-related] activities as a result.”
Two of the waivers Pompeo ended today had allowed companies from Europe, Russia and China to help redesign the Arak heavy water reactor to cut its potential plutonium output and transfer enriched uranium into Iran for the Tehran Research Reactor. The third waiver allowed Iran to export scrap research reactor fuel.
