Iran’s envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Kazem Gharib Abadi, said that his country had suspended the implementation of what is known as the “Additional Protocol” at midnight on Monday (2030 GMT).
The agreement allowed the International Atomic Energy Agency to conduct inspections, which Iran would be notified of shortly before.
The state-run Iran newspaper criticized the conservative MPs, who protested, on Monday, Tehran’s decision to allow UN inspectors to “be allowed” to monitor “necessary” for a period of up to three months, saying that the decision “violates a law” passed by Parliament, in an apparent effort to pressure the United States to lift the sanctions. According to Reuters news agency.
The law provides for the suspension of surprise inspections by the United Nations agency, from Tuesday, unless sanctions are lifted.
The newspaper said: “Those who say that Iran should take swift and strict action on the nuclear deal, should say what are the guarantees that Iran will not be left alone as was the case in the past … Will this lead to anything other than helping to form a consensus in Confronting Iran“.
To make room for diplomacy, the agency reached, on Sunday, an agreement with Iran to mitigate the impact of the decline in Iranian cooperation and refuse to allow sudden inspections..
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said, on Monday, that Iran “may enrich uranium by up to 60 percent, if the country needs it,” while reiterating Iran’s denial of any intention to seek nuclear weapons..
The nuclear agreement, which Iran concluded with six world powers in 2015, and which it has violated since the United States withdrew from it in 2018, determines the fissile purity at which Tehran can enrich uranium at 3.67 percent, which is much less than the 20 percent that Tehran reached before the conclusion. The agreement, well below the 90 percent ratio needed to build a nuclear weapon.
A spokesman for the US State Department said that Khamenei’s statement “appears threatening,” and reiterated his country’s readiness to enter into talks with Iran regarding a return to the nuclear deal..
Washington said last week it was ready to talk to Iran about the two countries returning to the deal abandoned by former President Donald Trump.
For its part, Tehran said last week that it was studying a proposal by the European Union to hold an informal meeting between the countries currently participating in the nuclear deal and the United States, but it has not yet responded..
The Iranians insist that Washington must stop its sanctions first to restore the agreement, while Washington says that Tehran must first return to full compliance with the nuclear deal..
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