US extends nuclear waivers for Iran, but with limits
ISNA - Iranian Students' News Agency
Sat / 4 May 2019 / 11:19
Tehran (ISNA) - The Trump administration is extending waivers that allow countries signed up to the Iran nuclear deal to participate in civil nuclear projects with Tehran, the State Department announced.
The Trump administration is extending waivers that allow countries signed up to the Iran nuclear deal to participate in civil nuclear projects with Tehran, but it's tightening the terms in an effort to increase pressure on the Iranian regime, CNN reported.
The US will extend waivers that allow the remaining parties to the 2015 deal to conduct research and do non-proliferation work at three sites in Iran without fear of facing sanctions, according to a fact sheet released by the State Department.
However, the waivers will be reduced from 180 days to 90, and State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus said in a statement that "assistance to expand Iran's Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant beyond the existing reactor unit could be sanctionable." Bushehr is one of the three facilities exempted from sanctions along with Arak and Fordow.
The US will also revoke two waivers that allowed Iran to ship its excess heavy water for storage and swap its enriched uranium for natural uranium, according to Ortagus.
"The decisions today enhance our ability to constrain Iran's nuclear program while pursuing maximum economic pressure," Brian Hook, the State Department special representative on Iran, told CNN in an interview.
"We are permitting the temporary continuation of certain ongoing nonproliferation projects that constrain Iran's nuclear activities and that help maintain the nuclear status quo in Iran until we reach a comprehensive deal that resolves Iran's proliferation threats," the State Department fact sheet said.
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