US Cancels Civil Nuclear Cooperation Waiver for Iran

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Monday he is canceling one of four sanctions waivers that had allowed foreign companies to work with Iran's civilian nuclear program without U.S. penalties. Pompeo also warned Iran's leadership not to crack down on protests that recent fuel price increases have sparked.

The waivers are among the last remaining components of the 2015 nuclear deal the Trump administration withdrew from last year.

Pompeo said the waiver for Iran's once-secret Fordow site will be eliminated Dec. 15. Iran recently announced it would resume uranium enrichment at the fortified facility, which is built into a mountain.

"The right amount of uranium enrichment for the world's largest state sponsor of terrorism is zero," he said. "There is no legitimate reason for Iran to resume enrichment at this previously clandestine site. Iran should reverse its activity there immediately."

Iran hawks in Congress have been pressing Pompeo to eliminate all the waivers but have most strenuously objected to the one that allowed Russian, Chinese and European companies to work at Fordow. The waivers for Fordow as well as the Bushehr nuclear power station, the Arak heavy water plant and the Tehran Research Reactor were last extended in late October.

Iiran nuclear Bushehr plant — In this photo by the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, concrete is poured for the base of the second nuclear power reactor at Bushehr plant, Nov. 10, 2019.

Nuclear deal critics, including Trump allies like Republican Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Tom Cotton of Arkansas and GOP Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, have long argued that the waivers should be revoked because they give Iran access to technology that could be used for weapons. In particular, they have targeted a waiver that allows conversion work at the once-secret Fordow.

They had announced plans to introduce legislation requiring the administration to cancel the waivers.

Deal supporters say the waivers give international experts a valuable window into Iran's atomic program that might otherwise not exist. They also say some of the work, particularly at the Tehran reactor on nuclear isotopes that can be used in medicine, is humanitarian in nature.

The protests around Iran have led to a curtailment in Iranians' internet access, and some of them have been met with violent responses.

Pompeo said Iran "must cease violence against its own people and must immediately restore the ability of all Iranians to access a free and open internet. The world is watching."