Ex-Energy Secretary Moniz breaks down challenges of nuclear negotiations with Iran

By — Amna Nawaz Amna Nawaz By — Dan Sagalyn Dan Sagalyn Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/ex-energy-secretary-moniz-breaks-down-challenges-of-nuclear-negotiations-with-iran Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Transcript Audio To discuss the U.S. nuclear negotiations with Iran, Amna Nawaz spoke with Ernest Moniz. Trained as a nuclear physicist, he was the Energy Secretary during the Obama administration and was a chief architect and the lead technical negotiator of the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement. He’s now chief executive officer of the EFI Foundation, which focuses on energy policy. Read the Full Transcript Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors. Amna Nawaz: For more on the U.S. negotiations with Iran, we turn now to Ernest Moniz. Trained as a nuclear physicist, he was secretary of energy during the Obama administration and was a chief architect and the lead technical negotiator of the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA. He's now chief executive officer of EFI Foundation, which focuses on energy policy. Secretary Moniz, welcome back to the "News Hour." Thanks for joining us. Ernest Moniz, Former U.S. Energy Secretary: Good to be back. Thank you, Amna. Amna Nawaz: So I want to start with your reaction to this back-and-forth on the issue of nuclear inspectors. Yesterday, Vice President Vance said Iran had agreed to allow access to the IAEA to nuclear sites. Today, Iranian officials are saying that is just not true. What do you make of Vance's statement and the Iranian response? Ernest Moniz: Well, first of all, the issue could not be more important, frankly. Frankly, since 2015 to this day, we have always said that the most important part of the nuclear dimensions of the JCPOA were in fact the extraordinary verification measures, and those hinge entirely upon access by the IAEA inspectors. So, when the vice president says that the inspectors can come back into Iran, that's not so special, nor is it special that they have access to the Iranian declared nuclear sites. That's important. But even more important, which the JCPOA did have in it, is that the inspectors could go to places that Iran had not declared as nuclear sites, but that the inspectors had reason to believe may have had nuclear activity. So it's the covert -- the covert sites. And, furthermore, it's -- we're a long way from that stage, obviously, given the exchange that you referred to. But, furthermore, I believe that this negotiation has to at least replicate what came out in 2015, namely, that Iran agrees to the additional protocol. That means that the inspectors can go to sites that have not been declared by Iran, but, furthermore, that there is a finite time window for granting that the access. It was 24 days in 2015. No other country has such a restriction. It is absolutely criti