United States proposes nuclear agreement 123 with Iran

On Tuesday the United Arab Emirates (UAE) proposed to the United States to apply to Iran the same 123 agreement on civil nuclear development collaboration that Washington has with Abu Dhabi and is negotiating with countries such as Saudi Arabia.

"We take into consideration the concern we all have about the nuclear issue in Iran and believe that the 'gold standard' should also be applied to Iran," stated the Emirati foreign minister, Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan, during a virtual ceremony in which the US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, also took part.

The so-called "gold standard" is governed by the agreement signed in 2009 between the United States and the UAE whereby this country was the first in the Arab world to build a nuclear energy production plant on its territory.

This nuclear cooperation agreement was established as a reference during the George W. Bush Administration in order to replace the old nuclear non-proliferation agreements and comply with international standards in direct negotiation with the United States.

Abdullah Bin Zayed al-Nahyan made this proposal at the online opening ceremony of the strategic dialogue between the United States and the UAE, at which Pompeo thanked Abu Dhabi for its support in the campaign to prevent Tehran from having access to nuclear weapons. "We want the (Iranian) regime to be held accountable at the United Nations," Pompeo said at the event.

So far, the Emirates has shown itself to be one of the strongest defenders of Trump's decision to break the nuclear pact signed with Iran in 2015. However, in recent months the stance of Abu Dhabi, a tough challenger to Tehran, has tempered some positions and even went so far as to send humanitarian assistance to Iran during the health crisis caused by the COVID-19.