US to Iran: Mess with IAEA and risk nuclear talks

Monitoring of Iran’s activities by the UN nuclear watchdog as outlined in an agreement recently extended until 24 June must be allowed to continue or risk undermining talks on reviving the Iran nuclear deal, Reuters reported the United States saying yesterday.

“We strongly encourage Iran to avoid any action that would prevent the collection of or IAEA access to the information necessary for it to quickly re-establish … continuity of knowledge,” a US statement to a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s 35-nation Board of Governors said.

“Such action would, at a minimum, seriously complicate ongoing efforts to reach an understanding on how Iran can return to compliance with its JCPOA commitments in return for a similar U.S. resumption,” it said, referring to the 2015 deal by its full name, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

On Monday, the IAEA said it was becoming harder to negotiate extensions to its monitoring deal with Iran.

“I think it’s becoming increasingly difficult,” Director General Rafael Grossi said when asked how likely it is that the two sides will again extend the agreement later this month. The two sides announced on 24 May that they were extending the three-month accord by a month.

READ: UN nuclear watchdog unable to access key Iran data since February