TEHRAN – Professor Paul Pillar, who was CIA intelligence analyst for 28 years, tells the Tehran Times that “Netanyahu is relying on confusion and ignorance about the JCPOA.”

Pillar also says, “Careless or uninformed members of the public may come away with the impression that he must have been talking about some current violation of the agreement by Iran.”

He adds “Uninformed people may also believe that the mere holding of files on nuclear matters is a violation of the agreement, even though it isn't.”  
Following is the text of the interview:

Q: Do the documents released by Netanyahu include any new details about Iran's nuclear deal? As you know Olli Heinonen the ex-Deputy Director General of the IAEA provided these documents to the Board of Governors in a confidential session back in 2008. So, the recent information couldn’t provide anything new.

A: There is almost nothing new in this.  It is all consistent not only with what was already provided to the IAEA but also with public judgments of the U.S. intelligence community of more than a decade ago.

Q: According to IAEA inspection team, the so-called Amad plan was stopped abruptly by Tehran in late 2003. So, why does Netanyahu revive a scenario already rejected by IAEA?

A: Netanyahu is relying on confusion and ignorance about the JCPOA.  Careless or uninformed members of the public may come away with the impression that he must have been talking about some current violation of the agreement by Iran.  Uninformed people may also believe that the mere holding of files on nuclear matters is a violation of the agreement, even though it isn't.  Netanyahu is also relying on people not understanding that the whole point of the extensive inspection procedures under the JCPOA is that Iran should not just be trusted to say the truth.  So if it lied in the past, that is hardly an argument against having the agreement.

Q: As the White House assessed the newly released documents were authentic, shall we think of Netanyahu’s claims as a prelude to trump's withdrawal from JCPOA?

A: Unfortunately, yes.  There is now ample indication of collaboration between Netanyahu's government and the White House in publicly attacking the JCPOA.  And as we already knew, Trump has long been looking for ways to destroy the accord, because he wants to wreck whatever Barack Obama accomplished.

Q: Netanyahu claims that Iran isn't complying with nuclear deal. Now the question is which one has the right to assess Iran’s compliance or violation, Israel or IAEA?

A: As European Union foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini reminded everyone recently, it is the IAEA that is charged with investigating and assessing matters of compliance with the IAEA as far as nuclear activities are concerned.  If individual governments have reason to believe there has been a violation, they are supposed to provide their information to the IAEA.