WASHINGTON, DC – During a hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee with Secretary of State John Kerry, Senator Bob Menendez said preliminary findings from a yet-to-be finalized report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) point to vulnerabilities in the International Atomic Energy Association’s (IAEA) capacity to monitor and verify Iran’s adherence to restrictions on its nuclear program set by the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Under the agreement, Iran has received significant sanctions relief in exchange for verifiable limits to its nuclear facilities, equipment, materials and activities.

“GAO’s preliminary observations point directly to future problems with monitoring, verifying, and meeting the requirements of the JCPOA,” Menendez said.

Menendez, along with Senator Mark Kirk and Representative Nita Lowey requested the GAO study last year soon after the JCPOA was announced and the IAEA was placed in charge of the monitoring and verification of Iran’s commitments under the agreement. Specifically, the non-partisan GAO was asked to review the authorities, resources and potential challenges this independent international organization has in fulfilling this critical mission.

According to the GAO, it analyzed the JCPOA and key IAEA documents and interviewed current and former IAEA officials, U.S. government officials, national laboratory representatives, and experts from research institutions in preparing findings.

Click here to read GAO’s preliminary report.

Below are Senator Menendez’s remarks at today’s hearing.

“I would like to introduce to the record a GAO report that I had commissioned with Senator Kirk and it talks about the entity in which we are putting all the marbles in, the International Atomic Energy Administration. Now, I think they do good work. But, let me just say that some of the preliminary findings cause concern for me about what the IAEA is capable of.”

“Let me read some of them: ‘GAO’s preliminary observations point to directly to future problems with monitoring, verifying and meeting requirements of the JCPOA.’ It talks about its limitation, ‘a limited budget from an irregular funding sources, human resources shortfall, important equipment operating at capacity already not being able to go beyond that, limited analytical capabilities that will all be tested by the new mandates of the JCPOA, a lack of authorities,’ obviously the IAEA will depend to a significant degree on the cooperation the Iranian state. Thirdly, that while they have focused virtually all of their resources to pursue the JCPOA, they are going to have very little resources. They turn away from other proliferators and potential proliferators. Finally, among other items, the IAEA’s own estimates has identified the need for approximately $10 million per year for fifteen years over and above its present budget. Thus, it is an agency that is understaffed for its purposes, losing technical assistance, people are leaving, and now has a singular focus. Now, I applaud that focus, but I want them to pursue other proliferators. And a budget that does not have the wherewithal to sustain it just for the focus of the JCPOA.”

“So, shouldn’t Iran, who violated international norm and international law, ultimately be the entity to pay since they are now flush with money that we have given them or returned to them? shouldn’t they be the ones to pay for the very essence of monitoring that they caused the need for in the first place?”

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