Iran, P5+1 publish restricted documents of JCPOA

Iran and the P5+1 group of countries have released some previously restricted documents about the nuclear agreement they signed last year to support the argument that Tehran is not exceeding the limits imposed on its stockpile of enriched uranium.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) circulated the clarifications, laid out in eight documents, to its member states on Friday after receiving a letter from the European Union's foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, who authorized the publication.

Some of the documents are dated January 6, 2016, some 10 days before the nuclear agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), went into effect.

“These documents are merely providing clarifications, developed by the Joint Commission, for the implementation of Iran's nuclear-related measures as set out in the JCPOA," Mogherini's office said in an attached letter on Friday.

The UN nuclear agency is monitoring the JCPOA which was signed between Iran and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council - the United States, France, Britain, Russia and China plus Germany on July 14, 2015.

Under the JCPOA, which was implemented in January, Iran undertook to put limitations on its nuclear program in exchange for the removal of nuclear-related sanctions imposed against Tehran.

The deal requires Iran’s storage of uranium enriched to up to 3.67 percent purity to stay below 300 kilograms. Tehran has also agreed to keep its heavy water stockpile below 130 metric tonnes.

The 45 pages of highly technical documents circulated on Friday specify, among other things, items that do not count toward Iran's low-enriched uranium stockpile, such as some unrecoverable material left in pipes.

"All current low-level solid waste contaminated with low-enriched uranium (LEU) ..., which is deemed unrecoverable, is not part of Iran's enriched uranium stockpile as specified in the JCPOA provided that Iran does not build or operate any facility or part of a facility capable of recovering LEU from solid waste for 15 years," one clause said.

The documents' publication Friday came less than a month before the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump, who has promised to tear up the nuclear deal once in the White House.

After the implementation of the JCPOA in January, the IAEA has confirmed Iran’s commitment to its undertakings under the deal in several reports.

In his visit to Tehran on December 18, the IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano expressed satisfaction with Iran’s compliance with its obligations.

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