Tehran, Iran – Western powers have backed an attempt to criticize Iran at the global nuclear watchdog as Iran agreed to cooperate with international experts on uranium grains found at several of their sites.
Iran’s foreign ministry has credited “intensive diplomatic efforts” with Tehran and all other partners in its 2015 nuclear agreement with world powers to suspend a European-American-backed resolution at the Board of Governors of the Atomic Energy Agency. International (IAEA).
The United States, which withdrew unilaterally from the nuclear deal in 2018, had backed a plan by Germany, the United Kingdom and France – collectively known as the E3 – to resolve its to reduce Iran’s commitments under the treaty.
“Today’s development can sustain the diplomatic path opened by Iran and the group and create the reasons for full implementation of commitments by all JCPOA parties,” said Saeed’s ruling foreign ministry. Khatibzadeh, referring to the Integrated Action Plan.
“Iran hopes that the JCPOA partners can guarantee that the JCPOA will be fully implemented through the use of this opportunity and through poor cooperation.”
Despite acknowledging that former President Donald Trump’s “biggest pressure” campaign has failed with tough economic sanctions, President Joe Biden has so far rejected sanctions. states, saying that Iran must return to full compliance first.
Iran, which began scaling promises back a year after Trump left the agreement, a few months ago has carried out uranium enrichment and IAEA access to its sites to comply with a December law agreed by its conservative parliament. after a major nuclear scientist was assassinated.
Iran recently rejected a European offer for unofficial talks with the US as a “guest” because it says the U.S. must first lift sanctions since it has left the pledges under the treaty, and later Iran will honor their promises immediately.
President Hassan Rouhani on Thursday reaffirmed that position, advising the U.S. not to spend time on the nuclear deal.
“Spending time and delaying things to another day will not benefit anyone. If time is wasted and the opportunity lost, the US will be directly responsible, ”he said.
Technical talks in April
IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi announced at a news conference on Thursday that he has reached an agreement with Ioran to hold further technical talks in April in Tehran.
He said Iran had welcomed the nuclear watchdog’s offer to “engage in an organized and systematic effort” to consider uranium fragments found at several sites that, for some time, had been blocked. has joined the IAEA.
In August 2020, after Grossi made his first trip to Tehran, the IAEA gained access to the sites.
He said on Thursday that Iran’s explanation for the grains found at the sites had not been “technically reliable” and felt that the two sides had been “talking past each other” since then. , something the April talks hope to resolve.
The latest agreement comes when Iran and the IAEA reached an agreement in February that could be key to developing the nuclear deal.
In accordance with parliamentary law, the Rouhani administration voluntarily stopped implementing the Additional Protocol, a document that will give the IAEA broad investigative capabilities.
However, the government agreed to keep the tapes of camera inspection of their sites going for three months. If the U.S. imposes sanctions during that period, the tapes will be handed over to the IAEA, or destroyed.
Abolfazl Amouei, the opposition for parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, said earlier in the week that Iran’s ban on the Protocol further reduces IAEA inspections by about 30 percent.
Grossi also said Thursday that the IAEA has “no additional information” about Iran’s production of uranium metal, another move banned under the nuclear deal.
Last month, an IAEA secret report released to the media reported that Iran has extracted some uranium metal at a facility in Isfahan.
But unconfirmed local reports in the past few days have said that Rouhani has ordered the delegation to stop in an attempt to leave the way for diplomacy open.