VIENNA, February 23. /TASS/. New agreements between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on further inspections create a favorable environment for political efforts on resuming full implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on the Iranian nuclear program, Russian Permanent Representative to International Organizations in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov said.
"The agreements between Iran and the IAEA on February 21 were a significant achievement. They allow to ensure a sufficient level of verification even after suspending an additional protocol on February 23 and create a more favorable environment for political efforts on restoring the full implementation of the JCPOA," Ulyanov wrote on his Twitter account.
On February 21, Ulyanov said the technical understanding reached by Iran and the IAEA on further verification activities at Iran’s nuclear facilities would make it possible to maintain a sufficient level of verification. He explained that the IAEA verification at Iran’s nuclear facilities would not fully stop after February 23, but its scale would be reduced.
The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) and the IAEA reached a bilateral technical understanding to continue monitoring at Iranian nuclear facilities for up to three months given that a new law comes into effect on February 23 that suspends the use of an additional protocol to Iran’s safeguards agreement with the IAEA. In accordance with the new requirements, the scale of the IAEA’s inspections in Iran will be reduced, but the necessary verification activity will continue. The sides will regularly verify the technical understanding to guarantee its implementation.