Gaps In U.N. Reporting of Iranian Nuclear Activity Could Test Trump Administration

The international agency responsible for monitoring last summer's nuclear deal with Iran is deliberately not reporting on Iranian activities that may indicate Iran is violating the deal, setting up a potential confrontation with the incoming Trump administration, according to nuclear and nonproliferation experts.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) published its regular report on Iranian compliance earlier this month, its fourth since the deal came into effect last January. The report said Iran breached the limit for a material used in the production of weapons-grade plutonium, but left out figures that had been included in IAEA reports for years, including information about the country's possession of certain forms of uranium.

The agency omitted a number of details in its first quarterly report on Iranian compliance in February. IAEA chief Yukiya Amano defended the gaps by saying the nuclear deal itself had narrowed what the agency was supposed to report. Critics have suggested the underreporting is aimed at covering up Iranian violations to placate the Obama administration, and told THE WEEKLY STANDARD this week that the practice should be reversed.

David Albright, head of the Institute for Science and International Security, told TWS that the underreporting was the IAEA's decision, and that the Trump administration should seek to restore the scope of the agency's reporting.

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