SpaceWar.com - Your World At War
Iran starts limiting UN inspections until US lifts sanctions
Tehran, Feb 23 (AFP) Feb 23, 2021
Iran confirmed it had begun implementing new restrictions on inspections by the UN nuclear watchdog Tuesday after the United States failed to lift economic sanctions by a weekend deadline.

Interim arrangements agreed in talks in Tehran on Sunday mean that the International Atomic Energy Agency will not be "flying blind" while "political discussions" on restoring a 2015 deal between Tehran and major powers go ahead, its director Rafael Grossi has said.

But while praising Grossi's 11th-hour diplomacy, Washington called on Tehran to "fully meet its verification and other nuclear non-proliferation commitments" under the deal while talks are under way.

The changes to the IAEA's monitoring and inspection regime, which were ordered by Iran's conservative-dominated parliament last year, are the latest in a series of retaliatory measures Iran has adopted in response to then US president Donald Trump's 2018 withdrawal from the agreement.

"The implementation of the law began this morning," Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told the official IRNA news agency.

Recordings from monitoring equipment that the IAEA installed at Iran's nuclear sites to verify its compliance will now be withheld by Tehran until President Joe Biden has lifted the crippling sanctions imposed by Trump.

So-called "voluntary transparency measures", including snap inspections of sites not under regular monitoring -- are also suspended.

Zarif said the changes would have no major immediate impact on the work of the IAEA inspectors.

"The crux of this deal is that the data recorded on our nuclear programme ... will be stored and not handed over to the IAEA," Iran's top diplomat said.

The data "had never been supplied to the IAEA in real time but had been handed over on a daily or weekly basis," he said,

If talks on a US return to the nuclear deal drag on, that will change, however.

The Iranian Atomic Energy Organisation has said that under the new law, if there is still no lifting of US sanctions after three months, it will start erasing the recordings.

If the sanctions are not "fully lifted in the next three months", the data will be "destroyed for good", it said.

Biden has signalled readiness to revive the nuclear deal but insists Iran first return to all its nuclear commitments.

Tehran demands Washington take the first step by scrapping the sanctions.

The Biden administration has said it is willing to join EU-led talks with Iran in search of a compromise.


ADVERTISEMENT




Space News from SpaceDaily.com
NASA Mars Orbiter Captures Volcano Peeking Above Morning Cloud Tops
Unexpected Dust Patterns Found on Uranus Moons Confound Scientists
Earth-based telescopes offer a fresh look at cosmic dawn

24/7 Energy News Coverage
UK nuclear site could leak until 2050s, MPs warn
ABC Solar Marks 25 Years With Grand Opening at AltaSea
UK plans solar 'revolution' for new homes

Military Space News, Nuclear Weapons, Missile Defense
Attacking Iran, Israel brazenly defies 'man of peace' Trump
Rubio warns Iran against targeting US over Israeli strikes
AI-enabled control system helps autonomous drones stay on target in uncertain environments

24/7 News Coverage
If people stopped having babies, how long would it be before humans were all gone?
UK's sunniest spring yields unusually sweet strawberries
Nations call for strong plastics treaty as difficult talks loom



All rights reserved. Copyright Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.