Iran Yet to Make Decision on Extension of Monitoring Deal with IAEA

Iran said on Monday that it has yet to decide whether to renew the monitoring agreement with the UN nuclear watchdog that expired last week, despite Washington’s warning that failure to do so would hinder discussions to resurrect the 2015 nuclear deal.

“No decision has been made yet, either negative or positive, about extending the monitoring deal with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA),” foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh told a televised weekly news conference.

Iran and world powers are in talks to resurrect the 2015 nuclear deal, which saw Iran agree to limits on its nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions.

The deal was abandoned by Washington in 2018. Tehran responded by violating some of its nuclear restrictions.

Iran has stopped an agreement with the IAEA that would have permitted more inspections of Iranian nuclear sites. Some inspections were prolonged for a limited time under temporary agreements, but those agreements expired on Thursday.

Earlier on Friday, IAEI demanded an immediate answer from Iran on whether to extend the agreement, while the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that if the extension failed it would be a serious concern for border negotiations.

In a daily briefing on Monday, France’s foreign ministry expressed concern over Iran’s lack of response but failed to clarify whether it would have any larger implications for the discussions.

“Iran must resume cooperation with the IAEA and immediately restore its full access,” it said.

Last week Iran said that its top security body, the Supreme National Security Council, would decide on the renewal of temporary agreements. The data and footage were still being collected in some places where the investigation stopped.

“Also there has been no new decision about deleting the data and footage from the IAEA’s cameras,” Khatibzadeh said.

Speaker of Iran’s parliament on Sunday said that Tehran will never give images from inside of Iranian nuclear sites to IAEA, as the agreement expired.

Iran’s nuclear discussions with world powers, which have been ongoing since April 9, were interrupted last week and are set to resume in the coming days. Last week, the parties stated that significant gaps still exist. “Many issues have been negotiated sufficiently … Now the other parties must make their tough decisions if they want to reinstate the deal,” Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator Abbas Araqchi was quoted as saying by state media.

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