MESOP : RELATIVIZING WORDS & INTERPRETATIONS BY WENDY SHERMAN – Diplomatic Leader in Vienna

Top US official: ‘Anytime, anyplace access’ to Iranian facilities was rhetorical flourish

The US pledge three months ago for “anytime, anyplace access” to Iran’s nuclear facilities was more of a rhetorical flourish than anything else, US Under Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said Thursday. “I think this is one of those circumstances where we have all been rhetorical from time to time,” Sherman said in a conference call with Israeli diplomatic reporters. “That phrase, anytime, anywhere, is something that became popular rhetoric, but I think people understood that if the IAEA felt it had to have access, and had a justification for that access, that it would be guaranteed, and that is what happened.”

Sherman urged the Israeli public to read the 100-page agreement and then judge it on the facts.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stressed that under the accord, “instant” inspections will only be able to take place 24 days after requested, giving time – he charged – to clean up the site.

Sherman, however, quoted US Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz as saying “it’s not so easy to clean up a nuclear site.” The reason there has been such a debate over IAEA inspectors visiting the Parchin military facility, she said, is that many years later there is still concern that the IAEA will find something there. “Twenty four days may seem like a long time, but in nuclear matters, according to scientists and technical experts, it is actually a very short time,” she said.

Contrary to Netanyahu’s assertion that what was agreed upon in Vienna was a bad deal, Sherman called it “not only a good deal, but a very, very good deal” that not only fulfills the framework worked out in Lausanne three months ago, but actually went beyond it.Sherman also said that there has been “extraordinarily close coordination” with Israeli experts, and that they were essential in development of certain components of the deal. “One of your lead experts wrote an e-mail to us after the deal looking for further consultation to see where our joint experts produced a result,” she said. She added that Israeli experts were involved in everything from the redesign of the Arak hard water reactor, to looking at issues of weaponization that were in the accord.

She said Netanyahu urged Israeli experts to continue consultation and “give us the benefit of the expertise Israel has.” She said this cooperation “has been very valuable and consequential to the steps we took.” http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Iran/Top-US-official-Anytime-anyplace-access-to-Iranian-facilities-was-rhetorical-flourish-409249