By Francois Murphy
WEN (Reuters) – The UN’s watchdog on Sunday said it had reached an agreement with Iran to halt the steps Tehran plans to crack down on this week, which would halt the end of snap inspections, and both sides monitoring to last three months.
The announcement by Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, made on a weekend trip to Iran at Vienna Airport, confirmed that Tehran will continue on Tuesday with its plan to reduce cooperation with the agency.
Iran has gradually violated the provisions of a 2015 nuclear power with world powers since the United States, under former President Donald Trump, withdrew in 2018 and reintroduced sanctions. The treaty aims to keep Iran at a distance from nuclear weapons, which Tehran says it has never wanted to build.
U.S. President Joe Biden has said he is willing to talk about both countries being reunited, although the two parties were at odds over who would take the first step.
An important part of Iran’s plan to reduce cooperation this week is the termination of the implementation of the Additional Protocol, under which the IAEA has the right to carry out rapid inspections in member states in areas not declared to the Agency. is not. Iran has agreed to implement the protocol under the 2015 Nuclear Power Agreement.
“This law exists. This law is going to be enforced, which means that the Additional Protocol, to my great regret, is going to be suspended,” Grossi said at the airport news conference.
Before speaking, the IAEA and Iran issued a joint statement saying Tehran would continue to implement the comprehensive protection agreement, its core commitments to the agency enabling the monitoring of its declared nuclear facilities.
The IAEA will also continue the “necessary verification and monitoring activities for up to three months”, the statement said, without specifying what the activities were.
Grossi said the steps Iran will take this week will be “mitigated to some extent” by the terms of this new, temporary agreement.
“What we have agreed on is something that is viable. It is useful to bridge this gap, which is now saving the situation. But for a stable, sustainable situation, there must of course be a political negotiation that does not depend on me,” ‘Grossi said and suggested it creates a window for talks on rescuing the nuclear deal.
(Reporting by Francois Murphy; Editing by Giles Elgood and Edmund Blair)