Iran won't allow nuclear inspections if nuclear deal partners don't cooperate

Iran's government has assured that it will have no choice but to limit nuclear inspections from next week if the other parties to the 2015 nuclear deal do not cooperate with it, according to the foreign ministry.

Saeed Khatibzadeh, a foreign ministry spokesman, said President Hassan Rohani's government is obliged by law to voluntarily stop implementing the Additional Protocol. It gives the UN nuclear watchdog more inspection authority. Inspections will not take place if US sanctions on Iran's oil and banking sectors are not lifted by 21 February.

"In case the other parties do not fulfil their commitments, the Iranian government will be obliged to suspend the voluntary implementation of the Additional Protocol to the NPT (Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty)," Khatibzadeh stressed.

Former US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew his country from the 2018 nuclear deal signed by Iran and several world powers. He reimposed tough sanctions on Iran and, a year later, Tehran progressively reduced its commitments under the deal.

Iran has also increased uranium enrichment to 20 per cent and is considering raising it to 90 per cent, in addition to further breaches of its responsibilities under legislation mandated in December by the conservative parliament. 

After Iran's top nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, was killed near Tehran in late November in an attack, for which Iran blames Israel, the bill was quickly passed.

Inspectors, Khatibzadeh reiterated on Monday, will still not have access to Iranian sites as part of the country's commitments under the Non-Proliferation Treaty. "All these measures are easily reversible on condition that other parties return to their commitments," he said.

If Iran can freely sell its oil and receive its profits through international banking channels, Iranian officials have said the reversal would be considered.

However, the foreign ministry spokesman said the Democratic administration of Joe Biden is evidently following his predecessor's tough policy on Iran. Refusing to lift sanctions until Iran first returns to its commitments.

According to Khatibzadeh, the US is still moving based on the wrong approach of the previous administration and what is currently happening is no different from the scenario before 20 January, when the change of government took place in the US.

He added that "maximum pressure and crimes against the Iranian people and disregard for international human rights still persist".