Iran Breaks Nuclear Deal, But the Obama Administration Won’t Say It’s a ‘Formal Violation’

A new report by the International Atomic Energy Agency revealed that Iran is in violation of last summer’s nuclear deal. According to the report, the regime in Tehran has again exceeded the deal’s threshold for heavy water, marking the second such violation since the implementation of the agreement in January. The Obama administration, however, has not called Iran’s possession of excess nuclear-related material a “formal violation” of the deal, and has praised Iran for “acknowledging” it exceeded that threshold.

A State Department spokesman twice praised the Iranians on Wednesday for making “no attempt to hide” their excess heavy water, a material used in the production of weapons-grade plutonium. “Iran made no attempt to hide it, and they’re taking immediate steps to address it,” spokesman Mark Toner told reporters.

When asked, Toner would not call the incident a “formal violation” of the nuclear deal.

“They certainly exceeded, again, their allowable amount of heavy water,” Toner said. “Whether that constitutes, again, a formal violation of [the nuclear deal] writ large, I’m not certain about that.”

Iran is expected to export five metric tons of heavy water in coming days, though it is unknown to whom. In this case, the country was roughly one-tenth of a metric ton over the 130 metric ton limit.

An Energy Department official told THE WEEKLY STANDARD they did not “expect the U.S. government to directly purchase any Iranian heavy water in the near future,” but would not rule out future purchases.

“I can’t speculate on the future needs of U.S. industry for heavy water,” the official said.

The U.S. agreed to buy 32 tons of Iranian heavy water for $8.6 million dollars in April, ensuring that the country was in compliance with the nuclear deal.

Officials delayed responding to congressional requests for details about that purchase for weeks, deepening congressional criticism that the United States was subsidizing Iran’s heavy water production.