Iran extends nuke sites monitoring deal with IAEA for one month

TEHRAN -- Iran announced on Monday the extension for one month of its agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on monitoring the country's nuclear activities, semi-official Fars News Agency reported.

"Iran's decision on the continuation of the data-recording for utmost one more month was informed today" to Rafael Mariano Grossi, director general of the IAEA, tweeted Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran's ambassador and permanent representative to Vienna-based international organizations.

Iran and the IAEA reached in February a three-month temporary agreement to store video records of cameras monitoring Iranian nuclear sites, and deliver those records to the IAEA only if and after US sanctions on Iran would be lifted.

The data recorded during the last three months will remain in the possession of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, and will not be transmitted to the IAEA, Gharibabadi was quoted as saying.

In a second tweet, Gharibabadi "recommended" the countries negotiating in Austria's capital Vienna to "seize the extra opportunity provided by Iran in good faith for the complete lifting of sanctions in a practical and verifiable manner."

The Iran-IAEA three-month agreement was reached right before a law passed in December 2020 by Iran's parliament came into effect, which mandates Iran's executive branch to stop implementing the IAEA's Additional Protocol if sanctions on Iran that should be lifted under the 2015 nuclear agreement continue to be in place by Feb. 23.

Representatives from China, France, Germany, Russia, Britain and Iran are expected to meet later this week in Vienna to continue negotiations aimed at reviving the Iranian nuclear deal.