Under the agreement Iran was allowed to enrich uranium to 3.67% said to beenough to fuel a nuclear power plant but far below the threshold of 90% needed for weapons-grade uranium.
Under the 2015 deal and up until the US withdrawal when Iran then stopped all inspections. the IAEA installed cameras and sensors at nuclear sites. Supposedly because the cameras were inside a special metal box with a blue paint that would show any attempt to tamper with it, it would ake still images of sensitive sites. Other devices, known as online enrichment monitors, measured the uranium enrichment levels and there were periodic on site inspections.
However prior to the out and out removal of inspectors blaming the US for that, Iran had already moved cameras and had no explanation for certain uranium levels-while they were not officially reported as violations they were noted.
Here are full details of Obama's agreement and all its loopholes prior to Trump pulling thre US out:
The merits of the final deal's verification measures have to be judged on the basis of the authority it gives inspectors to access potential…
bipartisanpolicy.org
What I would argue is the IAEA repeatedly was delayed from inspections for a full 54 day delay before eaxch inspection and as that was happening conflicting intelligence was coming out indicating before Trump withdrew he US, Iran was playing hide and seek.
The biggest weakness as inspectors complained was that they have no ability to detect the existence of any possible hidden weapons research labs because it would have to wat 54 days before it came on site and by then Iran weould have had time to sanitize the facility without leaving behind the radioactive residue that would be the tell-tale sign of an enrichment plant.
So I would argue when Trump was complaininhg about the agreement it was based on the above not enabling inspectors to properly look for or detect missiles that might be developed for nuke weapons and whatever any of us think of Trump, put that aside, and look the weaknesses in the agreement.
To be fair prior to Trump's initial pull out the agreement was severely compromised I would argue because
Iran was permitted to keep some key technology necessary for making a nuclear weapon and was
permitted to continue enriching uranium. Obama bragged about the tough verification process but the agreement only allowed managed access to Iranian sites with 54 day advance notice which allowed the Iranians to continue to insist certain sites remain off limits which it did prior to Trump's decision,
In regard to Iran's missile program and on-going financing of terrorism the US acknowledged that the deal could not stop that or be tied into that.
At the time of this agreement Iran released American hostages in exchange for billions of dollars paid to them by the US under Obama. That timing can not be ignored. It flooded Iran with money it could now use for continued financing of terrorism and many Democrats not just Republicans or Trump screamed at that.
The initial deal was bad for many reasons, i.e.,
It is less an arms-control agreement than cover for American inaction.
www.theatlantic.com
www.independent.co.uk
