IAEA will have no access to Iran's nuclear sites images, says top lawmaker

Iran’s parliament speaker said on Sunday that a three-month monitoring deal between Tehran and the UN nuclear watchdog had expired as of Saturday, Iran’s state TV reported, adding that the agency would no longer access images of nuclear sites, reports Reuters.

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, is to hold a news conference on Sunday afternoon. He is in talks with Iran on extending the monitoring arrangement, which could affect talks between Tehran and six powers to revive the 2015 nuclear deal, the IAEA said.

“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,” state TV quoted Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf as saying. He did not say whether the images would be deleted. Iran began gradually breaching terms of the pact with world powers after then-President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the deal in 2018 and re-imposed sanctions.

The pact aims to keep Iran from being able to make nuclear arms, which Tehran says it has never wanted to build.

READ: IAEA confirms Iran has started enriching uranium to 60% purity

To pressure President Joe Biden’s administration to return to the nuclear pact and lift sanctions, Iran’s hardline-dominated parliament passed a law last year obliging the government to end implementation of the Additional Protocol from February.

Under the 2015 deal, Iran agreed to observe the IAEA’s Additional Protocol that permits short-notice inspections at locations not declared to the agency – to bolster confidence that nuclear work is not being covertly put to military ends.

To give diplomacy a chance, the watchdog and Iran agreed in February to keep “necessary” IAEA monitoring and verification activities in the Islamic Republic, although Tehran would reduce cooperation with the agency.

Qalibaf told parliament’s open session, aired by state TV, that Iran’s ultimate authority, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, backed the decision. “Yesterday it was discussed and the decision was made. The law passed by the parliament will be implemented. The supreme leader has underlined the importance of this issue as well,” Qalibaf said.

The on-going tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia – Cartoon [Sabaaneh/MiddleEastMonitor]