US Says Nuclear Talks in Danger if Iran Fools With IAEA Monitoring

The United States on Tuesday warned Iran not to mess with the International Atomic Energy Agency’s monitoring of its nuclear facilities, warning that such intervention would jeopardize negotiations currently being held in Vienna over a return to the 2015 nuclear deal.

If Tehran were to “prevent the collection of or IAEA access [to the required information, it would] at a minimum seriously complicate ongoing efforts to reach an understanding on how Iran can return to compliance with its Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action commitments in return for a similar US resumption,” an American statement said.

Back in February, following Tehran’s parliamentary resolution to cease cooperation with the IAEA, the UN’s nuclear watchdog and Iranian officials struck a watered-down three-month extension, by which Iran will conduct and keep video recordings of the uranium-enrichment sites in question, to be viewed at a later date by IAEA experts.