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IAEA head warns only weeks remain to revive Iran nuclear deal

He was responding to an Iranian lawmaker saying the United States has until Feb. 21 to lift sanctions imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump.

International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Rafael Grossi in Vienna on Oct. 2, 2019. Credit: Dean Calma/IAEA via Wikimedia Commons.
International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Rafael Grossi in Vienna on Oct. 2, 2019. Credit: Dean Calma/IAEA via Wikimedia Commons.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi said on Monday that with Tehran having resumed enriching uranium to 20 percent, time was running out on renewing the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear deal.

“It is clear that we don’t have many months ahead of us. We have weeks,” said Grossi in an interview with the Reuters Next conference. “There will have to be a clear understanding on how the initial terms and provisions of the JCPOA are going to be recomplied with,” he added.

The Iranian government announced on Jan. 4 that it had resumed enriching uranium to 20 percent at its underground nuclear facility at Fordow.

An Iranian lawmaker said on Saturday that it would give the incoming Biden administration until Feb. 21 to stop sanctions imposed by the Trump administration, according to the report.

“This political environment could discourage congressional committee staff and federal agency personnel from pursuing investigations or enforcement actions involving antisemitism,” Karen Paikin Barall of the Brandeis Center told JNS.
“They get social credit within their political bases in terms of talking about settler violence and and taking up the side of the Palestinians on issues between them and Israel,” Rafael Mangual of the Manhattan Institute told JNS.
The U.S. envoy also said antisemitism “didn’t exist” during his upbringing and warned of an unintended clash between Israel and Turkey.
“There is not, and there will not be, a Palestinian state,” the Israeli prime minister pledged. He also called for the corruption trial against him to be dropped.