Iran says IAEA will no longer be able to obtain images of nuclear facilities
Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, Speaker of the Iranian Parliament, announced that the three-month monitoring agreement between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has come to an end. For this reason, he also added that the organisation "will no longer have the right" to access images of nuclear facilities. Until now, the IAEA was able to collect thousands of images from the security cameras at Iranian nuclear power plants as part of an "interim" agreement with Tehran.
Meanwhile, in hopes of extending the pact, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi is reportedly willing to travel to Iran to work out a new agreement that would allow the agency to monitor the country's nuclear operations, reports Al-Arabiya. Sayed Abbas Araghchi, Iran's deputy foreign minister and chief negotiator at the Vienna talks, said earlier that an extension is possible.
The expiry of the interim treaty between Tehran and the IAEA comes in the midst of the Vienna negotiations, which aim to salvage the 2015 nuclear deal. Since the US pulled out of the deal, Iran has breached it on numerous occasions, enriching and stockpiling uranium at levels far in excess of those permitted. Last April Tehran announced that it had begun producing enriched uranium at 60 per cent purity, approaching the 90 per cent level needed to create an atomic bomb, according to state media.
The fifth round of these talks will take place on Tuesday and, although they are making significant progress, they have not yet reached a common point. However, US diplomats are optimistic about the new meeting. "Agreement seems possible, despite the discord," they said. The European Union also shares this hope, saying that the US and Iran will soon return to the nuclear deal. On the other hand, senior diplomats from the UK, France and Germany said that "tangible progress" was being made, but warned that success was "not guaranteed".
The United States is an important player in the negotiations, as the sanctions imposed on Iran is one of the most contentious issues. Tehran has reiterated on several occasions that it is necessary for Washington to lift sanctions in order to unblock the agreement. The Biden administration has proposed removing some sanctions from 2018, but the government has indicated that it "reserves the right to impose nuclear-related sanctions, whether for terrorism, human rights violations or interference in our elections".
The upcoming Iranian presidential elections on 18 June may have an impact on the course of the negotiations depending on who succeeds Hassan Rohani. The victory of Ali Larijani, one of the candidates, could provide a significant boost to the Vienna talks, as the former nuclear negotiator has said he will seek "a strong, constructive and intelligent relationship with the West". However, there are a large number of conservative contenders who may be willing to continue with the line they have taken so far.