By Reena Bhardwaj
Washington DC [US], June 13 : A senior Trump administration official on Friday (local time) said Iran has committed to never develop or procure nuclear weapons under a proposed agreement, while sanctions relief would be tied to strict verification and inspections.
Speaking about the negotiations, the official said the agreement enjoys support from regional partners, including Israel and Gulf countries.
"We feel quite confident that all of our allies- the Israelis and the Gulf coalition- will get on board. Obviously, that doesn't mean they give up the right to self-defence, and if Iranians don't honor their end of the obligation, I wouldn't expect the Israelis to not respond."
The official also said there is a "broad consensus" within Iran on the proposed deal.
"We do also see is broad consensus in the IRGC, among the hardliners, among the civilian leadership, that this is a good and acceptable deal. So we actually feel quite confident that there is consensus within the system. It doesn't mean there isn't some dissent, but we think that dissent is quite minimal," the official said.
According to the official, the agreement has been structured to ensure Iran receives benefits only after fulfilling its commitments.
"I do trust that we structured the deal in such a way where they don't get their benefits unless we get our benefits, and that's how we're going to walk down this pathway of a negotiated settlement."
On the specifics of the agreement, the official said Iran has committed to eliminating enriched nuclear material and decommissioning nuclear sites, although technical details remain under discussion.
"We think that this is the first and most important step to really ensuring that the Iranians do not build a nuclear weapon".
The official said Tehran has committed indefinitely to not developing or procuring nuclear weapons and that benefits under the agreement would be delivered only after verification measures are satisfied.
"They are committing indefinitely to never procure or develop nuclear weapons. That is a significant concession, something the president cared a great deal about... We're happy with the commitment to not build a nuclear weapon, but we have to verify that, and that's why the deal is structured in the way that it is, is to ensure that there's a verification and inspections regime and that they don't receive the benefits of the negotiation until we see that they're actually taking the affirmative steps in order to dismantle that nuclear program", the official said.
The official further said a 60-day technical negotiation period has been envisioned and is "explicitly contemplated in the MOU".
"If we see them honoring their end of the bargain, it's going to be very good for Iran, and if we see them not honoring their end of the bargain, then they're not going to get anything out of it, and that's really why we structured in the way that we have, all we can do is strike a deal, enforce the deal, and only provide the benefits to Iran when we get the benefits to the American people, and that's our plan", the official said.
The official also said Washington seeks to prevent Iran from maintaining nuclear infrastructure that could enable weapons development, while not opposing a civilian nuclear energy programme.
"We've accomplished through some combination of leverage and diplomacy is the commitment to get rid of their highly enriched material and a commitment to not build or buy a nuclear weapon indefinitely. Now, on the civilian nuclear program, I think that we have to be very careful and very precise here. For example, the Emiratis have a civilian nuclear power program, they generate a lot of electricity through nuclear power, but they don't have the kind of infrastructure that would allow them to build a nuclear bomb. We don't, we're not bothered at all by the idea of civilian power plants in Iran. What we're bothered by is the type of infrastructure that would allow them to jump from civilian power generation to nuclear weapons development, and that's what they've had for a very long time."
"We feel quite confident that if they meet their obligations under this agreement, they're not going to have that infrastructure to build a nuclear weapon... We're ultimately going to see whether the Iranians care more about their economic prosperity than they do their nuclear weapons program, because if they do, the President has instructed us to construct the kind of sanctions relief that would really integrate Iran into the 21st century economy, but they're only going to get that if they make the real commitments that we need on the nuclear weapons program and on being a regional partner for peace", the official said.