Tehran: An Iranian MP has warned that if the Western parties fail to honour their commitments to the 2015 nuclear agreement by May 24, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will have no access to the data recorded at Tehran’s nuclear sites.
“According to the Strategic Action Plan to Counter Sanctions (SAPCS), the opportunity for the West to fulfil its obligations will end on May 24, and Iran will take action in accordance with that law,” Mojtaba Zonnouri, chairman of the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, said in a media interview on Saturday.
On February 21, 2020, Iran reached a temporary bilateral understanding with the IAEA to delay the full implementation of Parliament’s SAPCS law for three months, reports Xinhua news agency.
According to the understanding, the IAEA’s monitoring cameras are currently recording the activities in Iranian nuclear sites, but the recordings will only be delivered to the agency if the negotiations in Vienna succeed by May 24, Zonnouri noted.
The latest round of the discussions in the Austrian capital to revive the 2015 nuclear agreement, officially known as Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), have not led to any new development, he said.
In case the negotiations fail to yield results, the Iranian member of parliament said, Iran will stop its “voluntary implementation” of the IAEA’s Additional Protocol.
Meanwhile, Zonnouri said that if the Vienna talks result in new clauses added to the 2015 nuclear agreement, the clauses will have to be approved by Iran’s Parliament.
The US administration under former President Donald Trump withdrew from the JCPOA in May 2018 and unilaterally re-imposed sanctions on Iran.
In response, Iran gradually stopped implementing parts of its JCPOA commitments from May 2019.
The JCPOA Joint Commission began to meet in Vienna on April 6, aiming at getting the US to return to the deal, and Iran to resume full compliance with it.
