IAEA Confirms Talks to Extend Nuclear Monitoring Deal With Iran

 

Three-Month deal from February set to expire

by Jason Ditz 

Posted onMay 20, 2021CategoriesNewsTagsIAEA, Iran

In the course of reducing cooperation with the IAEA at orders of parliament, Iran made a deal in February for “reduced access” inspections. The three-month deal ended snap inspections, and brought access down to the minimum required under present deals, without the voluntary access previously given.

The three-month plan worked well, and if there was something wrong with it, it was three months ago, and this week it will expire. The IAEA confirms talks are ongoing with Iran in trying to extend the deal.

At the time the hope seemed to be for diplomacy to get going, and three months seemed a good window. At this point the talks are still in their infancy, and Iran’s parliament is presumably not willing to enhance access without progress.

The Rouhani government is keen to do enough to satisfy parliament without undermining their IAEA relationship. This likely means they will come to a deal to extend the limited access in some manner, though with expiration coming Friday, they’ll have to hurry.

https://news.antiwar.com/2021/05/20/iaea-confirms-talks-to-extend-nuclear-monitoring-deal-with-iran/