For Immediate Release: January 16, 2016
Media Contacts: Daryl G. Kimball, executive director, (202) 463-8270 ext. 107; Kelsey Davenport, director for nonproliferation policy, (202) 463-8270 ext. 102; Communications Director, 202-463-8270, ext. 110
(Washington, D.C.)—Today, EU High Representative Federica Mogherini and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that Iran and six world powers (China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States) completed requirements for implementing the historic July 14 nuclear deal, which blocks Iran’s pathways to nuclear weapons and strengthens the global nonproliferation regime.
Taken together, the restrictions dramatically roll back Iran’s uranium-enrichment capacity, block its route to nuclear weapons using plutonium, and put in place a multi-layered monitoring regime that keeps every element of Iran’s nuclear fuel cycle under surveillance. Additionally, Iran is prohibited from conducting activities or experiments relevant to a nuclear explosive device, even for conventional purposes. Without this deal, the time it would have taken Iran to develop nuclear warheads would have shrunk dramatically, putting Tehran just weeks away from producing enough fissile material for a bomb if it chose that path.
This hard-won nonproliferation victory demonstrates the international community’s commitment to preventing the spread of nuclear weapons and significantly diminishes the future prospect of an Iranian nuclear arsenal.
In the months and years ahead, the United States and its negotiating partners must continue to diligently implement every element of this critical agreement and fully support the International Atomic Energy Agency in its work to verify compliance with the deal.—KELSEY DAVENPORT, director for nonproliferation policy, and DARYL G. KIMBALL, executive director.
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