Blackmoon
FULL MEMBER
- Joined
- Jul 15, 2015
- Messages
- 705
- Reaction score
- 1
- Country
- Location
The Obama administration will purchase 32 tons of nuclear material from Iran, the State Department confirmed to Fox News Friday, in a move likely to anger critics still reeling after Iran received billions in sanctions relief following the implementation of the nuclear deal in January.
The value of the deal: $8.6 million, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Secretary of State John Kerry will meet with his Iranian counterpart Javad Zarif in New York City this afternoon. A State Dept. delegation is also meeting in Vienna today with Iran and six world powers to discuss the nuclear deal and sign the contract moving the purchase forward.
"This heavy water will fulfill a substantial portion of U.S. domestic demand this year for industry and domestic research applications. This material is not radioactive and does not present safety concerns," State Dept. spokesman John Kirby said.
Earlier this week, in a candid admission, Kirby said, "we don't know" if $3 billion in sanctions relief given to Iran had gone to fund terrorism operations. The rogue nation has conducted a string of missile tests this year, which U.S. officials say runs afoul of a U.N. Security Council resolution tied to the nuclear deal.
The Dept. of Energy is buying the material in part because U.S. officials are concerned Iran can't effectively cut its stockpile quickly enough, the Journal reports, adding that few other shoppers are stepping up and making an offer.
Iran ensured the material "would not be used to support the development of a nuclear weapon. Our purchase of the heavy water means that it will instead be used for critically important research and non-nuclear industrial requirements," Kirby added.
Iran wants financial restrictions that remain eased, or at the very least, clarified. Despite the relief it was given in the nuclear deal, Iran remains under numerous U.S. sanctions related to its ballistic missile activity, support for terrorism and human rights abuses.
The Obama administration insists it has met its obligations under the nuclear deal but acknowledges that some sanctions relief has been slow. The administration has ruled out giving Iran access to the U.S. financial system or direct access to dollars.
Zarif complained this week that the administration has not been "proactive" in explaining the sanctions relief to international banks and that as result, Iran remains locked out of the international financial system. That is disputed by Washington, which notes it has dispatched officials to explain to banks and other businesses what is legal.
Congressional Republicans called on Kerry Thursday to specifically rule out the possibility that Iran will be given even indirect access to either the dollar or the U.S. financial system. They pointed to comments Kerry made after his Tuesday meeting with Zarif in which he said that they would use Friday's meeting to "solidify" efforts to ensure Iran gets what it deserves under the deal.
"The administration should definitively rule out any potential workaround that provides Iran -- directly or indirectly -- with access to the dollar or the U.S. financial system," House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin said in a statement. "We hope that's the message Secretary Kerry delivers to Foreign Minister Zarif on Friday."
House Majority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., meanwhile, tweeted that "We cannot grant Iran access to the dollar in any form."
Their comments come after House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce of California introduced a bill that prohibits the administration from allowing the dollar to be used in trade transactions with Iran.
