May 10, 2018

The United States will not stop funding intense International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspections in Iran, in spite its pullout from the nuclear deal with Tehran, a U.S. official said on Thursday.

Washington has been a major financial contributor to the IAEA’s efforts to make sure that Iran does not develop nuclear weapons under the 2015 agreement that U.S. President Donald Trump abandoned on Tuesday.

“The U.S. will continue to support robust implementation of IAEA inspections in Iran to the full extent of the IAEA’s authority,” an official at the U.S. mission to the IAEA in Vienna said.

The IAEA is present in Iran around the clock. Its specialists in Vienna search millions of pieces of Iran-related information each month for suspicious developments.

The IAEA spends 9.2 million euros (10.9 million dollars) on this work per year, of which 4.1 million euros are currently funded by the agency’s regular budget.

The rest comes from voluntary payments by member countries.

The U.S. covers about a quarter of the regular budget and has volunteered an additional 3 million dollars for Iran inspections since 2015, the U.S. official said.

Trump has pulled out of the 2015 pact and reinstated U.S. sanctions because he does not believe that the agreement prevents Iran from getting atomic weapons.

The other major powers involved in the deal – Britain, Germany, France, Russia and China – have promised to uphold the deal that has forced Iran to scale down its nuclear activities in return for sanctions relief.