US official: Iran promises to permanently abandon nuclear weapons, but US needs to establish a verification mechanism

On June 13, CNN reported that a senior U.S. administration official said on Friday that Iran "promises never to seek or develop nuclear weapons forever," which the official called a "major concession" from Tehran. Iran has made similar public commitments before. "We are satisfied with its commitment not to make nuclear weapons, but we have to verify that, which is why the agreement adopts this structure-ensuring that verification and inspection mechanisms are in place and ensuring that they don't get the benefits of negotiations until we see that they do take proactive steps to dismantle their nuclear program," the senior official said. Previous negotiations have discussed a 10-or 20-year deadline for Iran to commit not to develop nuclear weapons, but Trump has said this is not enough for him. The senior official said the United States is willing to allow Iran to use nuclear energy in civilian ways. "We have no objection to the idea of Iran building a civilian nuclear power plant. What we oppose is the kind of infrastructure that allows them to leap from civilian power generation to nuclear weapons development, which is what they have had for a long time."