Velayati: No Inspection of Military Sites

Iranian supreme leader’s top foreign policy advisor Ali Akbar Velayati said on Friday that Iran will not allow IAEA inspectors into any military sites, Iranian news agencies Mehr and Fars reported. Velayati’s declaration contradicts JCPOA, the nuclear agreement Iran signed two weeks ago with world powers.

“The access of inspecters from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) or from any other body to Iran’s military sites is forbidden,” Velayati said. (Fars News Agency, 25 July)

Velayati is also quoted by Iranian news agencies as saying that inspection of military sites under “any conditions and circumstances” will not be allowed “irrespective of the different interpretations that the P5+1 could have of Vienna agreement.”

Annex I of JCPOA, the nuclear agreement between Iran and P5+1, allows inspection of military sites. Iran could refuse IAEA’s request to inspect any specific site, but an eight-member Joint Commission comprising the U.S., Iran, EU, UK, Russia, China, France and Germany can with a majority (5) vote overrule Iran’s objection. The process could take up to 24 days, but the inspection will have to be allowed if the Joint Commission votes in its favor, not particularly too high a bar for the U.S., EU, UK, France and Germany representatives to meet.

If Iran indeed refuses to verify the inspection provisions of the agreement, it could throw the implementation of the entire agreement in limbo. The implementation begins with IAEA certification that Iran has implemented all its obligations under the agreement.