Iran’s envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Kazem Gharibabadi, announced that the IAEA was informed that Iran had extended the monitoring deal for a month. Posting on his Twitter account, Gharibabadi said that Iran’s extension decision would last utmost one more month.
An Iranian website also reported, referring to the Iranian diplomat, that “The Director-General of the IAEA today has been informed about Iran’s decision… The data from the last three months are still in the possession of Iran and will not be handed over to the IAEA. The data of the next month will remain only with Iran according to the agreement.”
Highlighting that the data belonging to the past 3 months will be kept by the Iranian authorities and would not be handed over to the IAEA, Gharibabadi also called the participant countries of the Vienna talks “to seize the extra opportunity provided by Iran in good faith to complete lifting of sanctions in a practical and verifiable manner.”
On Sunday, it was announced that the three-month monitoring deal between Tehran and the IAEA had expired, and the agency’s access to images of Iranian nuclear sites would be blocked. Upon the announcement, the head of the agency Rafael Grossi held talks with Iranian officials to reach an agreement about the extension of the deal.
It was speculated that the possible failure to reach an agreement to extend the deal could undermine the ongoing negotiations in Vienna to revive the 2015 nuclear deal.
