Iran won’t share nuclear site images with IAEA as deal has expired

Tehran, Jun 27 (EFE).- Iran will not share images from the country’s nuclear sites with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), as a temporary monitoring agreement with the UN watchdog has expired, the Iranian parliament said on Sunday.

Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, the speaker of Iran’s parliament, said during an open session the three-month agreement had not been extended, adding none of the recordings of the nuclear sites would be handed over to the agency.

The images will remain “in the possession of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” stressed Qalibaf.

In February, Iran had restricted IAEA inspections.

However, the agency negotiated an interim and bilateral solution to maintain essential nuclear surveillance. It was extended for one month in May and expired on June 24.

IAEA director Rafael Grossi said on Friday he had not received a response from Iran on the possible extension of the agreement, stressing the vital importance of continuing the agency’s nuclear inspections in Iran.

Iran’s ambassador to the IAEA Kazem Gharib Abadi said the data recordings “shouldn’t be considered as obligation in relation with the agency.”

After the United States’ former president Donald Trump pulled out from the international nuclear agreement in 2018, Iran turned its back on the pact and began to make it more difficult for inspectors to monitor activities at its nuclear facilities.

Representatives from Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China have been trying to mediate between Tehran and Washington in negotiations underway in Vienna since April, with the aim to salvage the nuclear accord. EFE

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