Reuters recently reported that the Joint Commission responsible for supervising Tehran’s adherence to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) granted Iran permission to retain more low-enriched uranium, heavy water, and “hot cells” than originally permitted in the deal. Had these exemptions not been granted, the Islamic Republic would likely have been out of compliance with the terms of the deal on the January 16 implementation day. Now the commission is considering still further exemptions. David Albright and Andrea Stricker examine the implications:
[These] decisions of the Joint Commission have not been announced publicly. The Obama administration informed Congress of key Joint Commission decisions on implementation day but in a confidential manner. These decisions, which are written down, amount to additional secret or confidential documents linked to the JCPOA. Since the JCPOA is public, any rationale for keeping these exemptions secret appears unjustified. Moreover, the Joint Commission’s secretive decision-making process risks advantaging Iran by allowing it to try systematically to weaken the JCPOA. It appears to be succeeding in several key areas.
Given the technical complexity and public importance of the various JCPOA exemptions and loopholes, the administration’s policy of maintaining secrecy interferes in the process of establishing adequate Congressional and public oversight of the JCPOA. This is particularly true concerning potentially agreement-weakening decisions by the Joint Commission. As a matter of policy, the United States should agree to any exemptions or loopholes in the JCPOA only if the decisions are simultaneously made public.
Read more on Institute for Science and International Security: http://isis-online.org/isis-reports/detail/jcpoa-exemptions-revealed