A three-month light agreement between Tehran and the UN nuclear watchdog has ended, raising questions in the negotiations.
A spokesman for the Iranian parliament said the three-month review agreement between Tehran and the UN nuclear watchdog was over and that its availability of images from other nuclear facilities in Iran would cease.
Sunday’s announcement raised further questions about the future of the unilateral talks between the United States and Iran reviving Iran’s nuclear deal in 2015.
“As of May 22 and the end of the three-month agreement, the IAEA will not have access to information captured by the cameras inside the nuclear weapons that have been linked to the agreement,” TV government spokesman Mohammad Baqer Ghalibaf said.
The International Atomic Energy Agency and Tehran entered into a three-month agreement in February to address concerns that Iran is reducing its alliance with the commission, and allowed it to review some of the issues that could be cut to continue.
IAEA Director Rafael Grossi is in talks with Iran to promote the agreement.
European ambassadors said last week that failure to reach an agreement on talks could lead to a major dialogue between Washington and Tehran on restoring cooperation between 2015 and the crisis. The talks are set to resume in Vienna this week.
The IAEA had arranged for Grossi to hold a press conference on Sunday but said it was still “in touch with Tehran” and that its press conference was suspended until Monday morning.
An Iranian official has not mentioned that the agreement between the IAEA and Tehran could be extended “legally” for one month.
“If it is extended for one month and if by then the authorities … have agreed to Iran’s legal requirements, then the same will be submitted to the agency. Otherwise, the images will be permanently removed,” said a member of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council.
Without commenting on parliamentary remarks, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Sunday that Tehran would continue the talks in Vienna “until they agree”.
He reiterated earlier claims that “Washington has agreed to lift sanctions” against Iran, according to Iranian media.
The US says it is unclear whether Iran is ready to return to the union
Iran and world powers have been negotiating several times since April in Vienna, Austria, working on Tehran and Washington’s obligations, on sanctions and nuclear weapons, to resume compliance with the nuclear deal.
Iran began violating the 2015 treaty with international powers after former President Donald Trump removed the United States from the alliance in 2018 and re-imposing sanctions.
On Sunday, United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken said it was unclear whether Iran was “ready and willing” to take the necessary steps to resume compliance with the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Speaking ahead of talks in Vienna to save the deal, Blinken was asked about reports in Iran that Washington had already agreed to remove some of the impediments to Iran’s economy.
“We know that sanctions that would need to be lifted if they were to violate the nuclear deal,” ABC’s This Week said.
He added that the most important thing is, “Iran, I think, knows what it has to do to get back on track with nuclear weapons, and what we have not yet seen is whether Iran is ready and ready to make a decision.
