TEHRAN (Iran News) – IAEA No Longer to Access Images of Iran Nuclear Sites. Majlis Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf says the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will no longer access images of the Iranian nuclear sites because a monitoring deal with the UN nuclear body has expired.
“From May 22 and with the end of the three-month agreement, the agency will have no access to data collected by cameras inside the nuclear facilities agreed under the agreement, and cannot transfer them,” Qalibaf told the parliament Sunday.
He said the Majlis is determined to implement its Strategic Action Plan to Counter Sanctions, which has tasked the administration with suspending extra commitments under the 2015 nuclear deal.
The decision, Qalibaf said, is backed by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei.
“Yesterday it was discussed and the decision was made. The law passed by the Parliament will be implemented. The Leader has underlined the importance of this issue as well,” Qalibaf said.
Last December, Iranian lawmakers overwhelmingly voted in favor of the Strategic Action Plan to Counter Sanctions.
The law tasked the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) with producing and storing at least 120 kilograms of enriched uranium with a 20-percent purity level every year and raising enrichment beyond 20 percent according to the country’s needs.
In February, Iran and the IAEA reached a technical understanding under which Iran agreed to keep the camera footage of its nuclear sites for three months in a goodwill gesture, waiting to see if the other parties to the nuclear deal can bring the US back into full compliance with the accord.
That deadline expired on Saturday, with the prospects of bringing Washington back to compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), as the nuclear deal is officially known, looking uncertain.
Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, who is the head of the Iranian delegation to the Vienna talks, told Japan’s NHK channel on Friday that the Islamic Republic may consider extending the deal with the IAEA on inspection of its nuclear sites.
Iran’s chief negotiator says Tehran’s resumption of the voluntary implementation of the Additional Protocol is “predicated” on the lifting of sanctions.
IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi was going to hold a news conference later on Sunday.