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The Iran nuclear conundrum continues

Ilan Goldenberg and Nate Swanson, in a January 31, 2026, Foreign Affairs article titled America’s Best Chance to Transform Iran, The Right Way to Deploy Military Threats, Pressure, and Support for the Opposition, included the recommendation that U.S. President Trump ‘demand that Iran allow International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors back into the country’. 
        Why the United States? The Iranian obligation to accept IAEA safeguards on its declared nuclear material arises from its adherence to the Nonproliferation Treat (NPT). The matter of Iran’s compliance with its NPT obligations is dealt with by the IAEA Board of Governors, upon notification by the IAEA Director General based on findings of the IAEA Secretariat, specifically by the Department of Safeguards. If Iran is found by IAEA in noncompliance, the matter is reported to the United Nations Security Council. No individual State has competence to meddle in NPT matters. 
        Individual States do have competence to negotiate with another State, in this case Iran, nuclear verification and monitoring measures additional to NPT. Thus, JCPOA was negotiated between Iran and China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union. JCPOA was endorsed by a UN Security Council resolution (S/RES/2231 (2015)) which mandated IAEA to carry out the nuclear measures in JCPOA. It is noteworthy that it took 3 years to negotiate JCPOA. 
        US President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from JCPOA and imposed ‘maximum pressure’ in 2018. That resulted in a series of escalations leading to the situation in Iran at the start of the 12-day war (Israel, U.S., Iran) in June 2025. 
        Negotiations of a new nuclear agreement were in progress between Trump’s envoy and Iran when Israel attacked Iran, with the intention of stopping those negotiations - which was successful. 
        Now, talks are to take place on February 6 in Oman, beginning the process again of negotiating a new agreement additional to NPT. Reaching agreement is difficult. But one thing is certain: Israel will attack Iran again if it sees an agreement coming together that it does not accept. 
        So, Iran tries to negotiate while preparing for war with the U.S. and Israel. What is the justification in international law for the attacks on Iran? Oh, they are just demonstrations of Steven Miller’s pronouncement that the strong will use their power to do what they want. 
        Nice world Donald Trump has brought us.

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