Geneva Deal does not Prohibit Construction on Arak Reactor

by Yoni Hirsch, Dan Lavie, Reuters and Israel Hayom Staff

U.S. State Department spokeswoman: "There will be no work on the reactor itself, no work to prepare fuel for or additional testing of the reactor. ... If he [Iran's FM] is referring to a road here or an out-building there, that's something different."

The nuclear facility in Arak | Photo credit: Reuters

The U.S. State Department has confirmed Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif's statements that under the interim deal signed in Geneva on Sunday, Iran is still allowed to carry out construction on its plutonium reactor in Arak. Zarif had said that "construction on the reactor will continue."

State Department Spokeswoman Jen Psaki said on Wednesday that while she was not sure exactly to what Zarif was referring, construction and paving work are allowed in the interim deal signed with Iran in Geneva on Sunday.

"What he [Zarif] said specifically was: 'The capacity of the Arak site is not going to increase. It means no nuclear fuel will be produced and no installations will be installed. But construction will continue there.' We're not sure exactly what he means by construction in the comments that he makes, but there will be no work on the reactor -- in the comments he made -- but there will be no work on the reactor itself, no work to prepare fuel for the reactor, or do additional testing of the reactor," Psaki told journalists.

"If he's referring to a road here or an out-building there, that's something different. Obviously, there are specific requirements. He repeated many of them in his public comments as well, as in that no nuclear fuel will be produced and no installations will be installed," she said.

The uncompleted heavy-water research reactor emerged as one of several crucial issues in negotiations in Geneva last week, when Iran agreed with six world powers to curb Tehran's nuclear program for six months in return for limited sanctions relief.

Israel has continued campaigning to show the international community the negative aspects of the interim deal with Iran and lifting of some of the sanctions against it.

Former National Security Council Chairman Maj. Gen. (res) Yaakov Amidror expressed his views on the Iran deal in a New York Times op-ed titled "A Most Dangerous Deal."

"Iran made only cosmetic concessions to preserve its primary goal, which is to continue enriching uranium. The agreement represents a failure, not a triumph, of diplomacy," Amidror wrote. " With North Korea, too, there were talks and ceremonies and agreements -- but then there was the bomb. This is not an outcome Israel could accept with Iran."

Amidror claimed that the lifting of certain sections would "send companies from around the world racing into Iran to do business, which will lead to the eventual collapse of the sanctions that supposedly remain." 

According to Amidror the interim deal and lifting of sanctions will only serve to make Iran more unrelenting in its goals. 

"The deal will only lead Iran to be more stubborn. Anyone who has conducted business or diplomatic negotiations knows that you don't reduce the pressure on your opponent on the eve of negotiations. Yet that is essentially what happened in Geneva," he said.

"After years of disingenuous negotiations, Iran is now just a few months away from a bomb. ... The West has surrendered its most effective diplomatic tool in exchange for baseless promises of goodwill. I pray its gamble pays off, for if it does not there will be only one tool left to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. The Geneva agreement has made the world a more dangerous place. It did not have to be this way." 

Meanwhile, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani blamed his predecessor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for bringing Iran to its dire economic position. 

"Not all problems are tied to the sanctions," Rouhani said. "In my predecessor's term inflation reached 40 percent due to poor management."

The head of the British negotiating team in the Geneva talks, Simon Gass, stated on Wednesday that Iran was required to do what was signed in the deal on Sunday in addition to all previous restrictions placed on the country. Gass' statement came after officials in Israel claimed that the Iranians felt the Geneva deal cleared them of all former restrictions."

Meanwhile, Washington Post senior foreign affairs editor David Ignatius detailed on Wednesday what would likely be the U.S. negotiating team's agenda for a final deal with Iran. Among the objectives listed, the United States and its negotiating partners would seek to "dismantle parts of the Iranian [nuclear] program, rather than simply freeze them," and there would be "no heavy-water reactor at Arak, rather than just a halt in supplies for it," he wrote. 

In addition, he said the U.S. was urging the "closure of Iran's enrichment facility at Fordo, dug into a hillside near Qom, arguing that this fortified location isn't consistent with the civilian effort that Iran insists is its only goal. The Iranians may seek to convert Fordo to some other use, which would present tricky monitoring issues."

Yoni Hirsch, Dan Lavie, Reuters and Israel Hayom Staff

Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=13647

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