Rafael Grossi, director general of the IAEA, said on Sunday that the two parties had reached the temporary ‘technical understanding’ after his trip to Iran, which recently indicated plans to reduce cooperation with the global nuclear watchdog.
The interim agreement reached on Sunday would withdraw the impact of Iran from the additional protocol, Grossi said. “What we have agreed on is something that is viable. It is useful to bridge this gap that we have now and save the situation now,” he said.
While the same number of international inspectors will remain in Iran, Grossi said their access to nuclear facilities would be limited and they would no longer be allowed to conduct a “quick inspection” at the last minute.
“It is not a substitute for what we had before. It is a temporary solution that enables us to continue to give the world the assurance of what is going on, in the hope that we will a fuller picture can return, “he said. Grossi.
IAEA monitors were granted comprehensive inspection rights as part of the 2015 Joint Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), a key agreement aimed at restricting Iran’s nuclear program and preventing the country from developing nuclear weapons in exchange for sanctions relief. Iran has long believed that its nuclear program is intended for peaceful purposes, despite skepticism from the international community.
The two sides were on an impasse. Washington and Tehran had earlier insisted that the others be the first to comply with the agreement again.
Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said that if the party preferred to leave the deal in the first place, the US would still rest.
“The United States must establish its bona fides to return to the nuclear deal,” Zarif said in an interview with CNN earlier this month. “The United States is not in the nuclear agreement, and the United States is not in the nuclear agreement because of its own decision to withdraw without taking the routes that were available within the nuclear agreement.”
“Until we sit down and talk, nothing is going to happen. That does not mean that when we sit down and talk, we are going to succeed, but we do know that if we do not take that step, the situation is just going from bad to worse, ”said a senior State Department official.
Jake Sullivan, Biden’s national security adviser, told CNN last week that US officials were particularly concerned about Iran’s decision to refuse to cooperate with the IAEA and that the “first business trip here would be for the Iranians to make the decision to to move further out of compliance, and then I believe there is a diplomatic way. ‘
“We are here at an early stage,” Sullivan said. ‘It’s going to take work, it’s going to take stubborn, clear-eyed diplomacy, and finally Iran will make a decision that they are prepared to take the necessary steps to secure the world and prove to the world that their (core) program solely for peaceful purposes. ‘