U.S. says will extend sanctions waivers for Iran nuclear programs

PanARMENIAN.Net - The United States will renew sanctions waivers for Iranian nuclear programs that allow Russia, China and European countries to continue their civilian nuclear cooperation with Tehran, White House national security adviser John Bolton said on Wednesday, July 31, Reuters reports.

“I think the idea here is we are watching those nuclear activities very, very closely,” Bolton said in an interview on Fox Business Network. “So this is a short 90-day extension,” he said.

Bolton’s comments came hours after Washington imposed sanctions on Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, a key figure in Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, which President Donald Trump withdrew from last year.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in early May extended five of seven sanctions waivers for 90 days, a shorter period than earlier waivers. The waivers allow work at Iran’s Bushehr nuclear plant, the Fordow enrichment facility, the Arak nuclear complex and the Tehran Research Reactor.

Trump last year abandoned the nuclear agreement, arguing that he wanted a bigger deal that not only limited Iran’s atomic work, but also reined in its support for proxies in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Lebanon, and curbed its ballistic missile program.