Russia says IAEA board reviews safeguards application deal with Iran

“The IAEA Board of Governors has completed consideration of NPT Safeguards Agreement with Iran. One of the main dividing lines in the course of the debate was a dispute, if ‘the glass is half full or half empty’. The answer depended on subjective feelings of the speakers,” Ulyanov wrote on Twitter.

Earlier, Mohammad Eslami, the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization (IAEO), stated that the criteria for Iran to implement its nuclear program are the provisions of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, the guarantees provided under it and the Strategic Action Plan to Lift Sanctions and Protect Iranian Nation’s Interest passed by the Majlis (parliament).

Iran has cautioned the United States that the window of opportunity for an agreement on reviving the nuclear deal will not remain open forever, urging Washington to adopt a constructive approach to salvage the accord.

Iran showed to the world the peaceful nature of its nuclear program by signing the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with six world states — namely the US, Germany, France, Britain, Russia and China. But, Washington’s unilateral withdrawal in May 2018 and its subsequent re-imposition of sanctions against Tehran left the future of the deal in limbo.

Negotiations between the parties to the landmark agreement kicked off in Vienna in April 2021, with the intention of bringing the US back into the deal and putting an end to its “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran.

The discussions, however, have been at a standstill since August 2022 due to Washington’s insistence on not lifting all of the anti-Iran sanctions and offering the necessary guarantees that it will not exit the agreement again.