Fmr. U.S. Officials: Iran Nuke Inspection Deal Falls Short

International nuclear inspectors will be barred from entering Iran’s most contested nuclear site under a new deal inked on Monday.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) announced on Monday that Iran had agreed to allow its inspectors into the country for tours of a uranium mine and partially constructed nuclear reactor.

The new roadmap agreement, which Iranian officials hailed as a sign of its “good will,” would permit IAEA officials to eventually visit the Gachine uranium mine and Arak heavy water plant, which is still in the early phases of construction.

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Proliferation expert Emanuele Ottolenghi said that the agreement “falls short of addressing all issues that have been on the table since 2008, when the IAEA began to address in earnest all aspects of Iran’s program’s military dimensions.”

Iran is well practiced in the art of obfuscating its nuclear activities, said Ottolenghi, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

“Iran has covered up many of its activities in the past—and the fact that it continues to deny access to inspections and verification for such a key military facility is very telling,” he said. “Iran is certainly being less defiant than in the past—but it will take much more on the regime’s part to come clean after three decades of clandestine activities and obfuscation.”

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