American and European officials on Wednesday deepened their criticism of what is increasingly being seen as deliberate Iranian foot-dragging on Tehran’s obligations to come clean regarding the so-called possible military dimensions (PMDs) of Iran’s atomic program, a reference to a range of activities from the military’s involvement in producing nuclear material to outright work on potential nuclear munitions.
The U.N.’s nuclear watchdog (IAEA) has for years been striving to increase transparency around those activities, and has more recently conducted negotiations with Iran in parallel to talks between the Islamic republic and the P5+1 global powers aimed at putting Iran’s nuclear program beyond use for weaponization. PMD issues are nonetheless considered a core component of the P5+1’s overall efforts, and a Wednesday Reuters article on the issue noted that “U.S. officials say it is vital for Iran to resolve the IAEA’s questions if parallel negotiations” are to continue.
A Thursday Reuters article conveyed statements from Israeli officials echoing the sentiments, condemning what they described as “false” accounts by Iranian officials regarding PMD-related issues:
“Iran continues to abuse what is termed as a ‘step-by-step’ approach to the resolution of outstanding issues,” Israeli Ambassador Merav Zafary-Odiz said, referring to a phased cooperation pact agreed in November between Iran and the IAEA.
“This pace of investigation is unacceptable … Iran will continue to provide false explanations and to hide the true nature of its activities,” she said, without giving details.
Long-standing Western demands that Tehran fully account for PMD-related work – codified in among other places United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution 1929 – have emerged as a central component of ongoing talks between the P5+1 global powers and Iran.
The PMD issue has also become tangled in broader controversies regarding the U.S’s role in the region and the world. Analysts – to say nothing of Washington’s traditional Middle Eastern allies – have in recent weeks become increasing clear in insisting that Iran’s willingness to disclose its past activities is now functionally a test of whether Washington is willing or able to extract genuine concessions from the Islamic eepublic.
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