IAEA asks for more money to monitor Iran nuclear deal

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-34051868

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The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has asked member states for more money to supervise last month's nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers.

The global watchdog's director-general, Yukiya Amano, said it would require €9.2m ($10.6m; £6.7m) per year.

The extra funding the IAEA had received for its current Iran operations would run out next month, he warned.

Iran has agreed to limit its sensitive nuclear activities in return for an end to crippling international sanctions.

The US says the deal will prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. Iran stresses that its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes only.

Road-map 'technically sound'

Under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) agreed on 14 July, inspectors from the IAEA will continuously monitor Iran's declared nuclear sites and also verify that no fissile material is moved covertly to a secret location for a bomb.

Iran has also agreed to allow inspectors to access any site they deem suspicious.

On Tuesday, Mr Amano told a meeting of the IAEA's board of governors in Vienna that it currently received €800,000 ($916,000; £582,000) per month to monitor Iranian nuclear activities.

So far, the costs have been met through extra-budgetary contributions from member states, but that money will be exhausted by the end of September.

Mr Amano said the agency would require an additional €160,000 per month in the run-up to the implementation of the JCPOA, and would then need €9.2m per year for the duration of the 15-year deal.

Following the appeal, the US said it was "committed to working with all member states to ensure the agency has the resources it needs to verify Iran's nuclear-related commitments".

Mr Amano also told Tuesday's meeting that the "road-map" agreement the IAEA signed with Iran alongside the JCPOA to resolve concerns about the possible military dimensions of its nuclear programme was technically sound and did not compromise the agency's standards.

The IAEA has been criticised for disclosing the details of the road-map.