Iran has made important progress in its effort to implement the international agreement to curtail its nuclear program, but its actions must still be independently verified, the White House said on Friday (January 15).
“We want to make sure they don’t cut any corners,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest told a briefing.
He said Iran would not receive sanctions relief until the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirms it has complied with the agreement. Earnest said he had no update on the timing of the implementation of the nuclear deal.
Earnest also said the White House will rely on international experts to ensure that Iran is living up to its commitments to curtail its nuclear program.
He said the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) report on Iran’s compliance with the nuclear agreement is more than a technicality and there is ample reason to distrust Iran.
“Independent verification has been in some ways the key part of this agreement from the beginning because there is based on their history a lot of distrust about the way that Iran talked publicly about their nuclear program in particular,” he told reporters.
An IAEA report verifying whether Iran has kept its promises under a nuclear deal Tehran reached last year with world powers is likely to be issued on Saturday, paving the way for sanctions relief, a diplomatic source said on Friday.
