Extension of agreement with IAEA signifies Iran's goodwill: Rabiei

Noting that Iran’s extension of a three-month agreement with IAEA for another month was a sign of goodwill by the country, Government spokesman Ali Rabiei said that the only proper response to Iran’s move is to accelerate the negotiations and immediately terminate the unilateral sanctions against Tehran.

Rabiei made the remarks speaking during his weekly press conference on Tuesday.

The spokesman said that the decision to extend the agreement was taken as Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) came to the conclusion that the negotiations are making progress.

He however said that "this opportunity is limited and we do not intend to tolerate the erosion of the negotiations according to the instructions of the Supreme Leader".

An agreement between Iran and the agency in late February provided that Iran would allow the IAEA to keep cameras installed in Iran’s nuclear facilities recording for another three months, but the recordings would not be available for the IAEA until US sanctions against Iran were removed.

“The three-month deadline expired today”, an SNSC statement said on Monday, while announcing that the deadline has been extended and Iran will keep the camera recordings for another one month so as to give diplomacy another chance.

The statement said that the decision to extend the deadline was taken as technical negotiations to resolve the safeguards issues between Iran and the agency are underway simultaneous with Vienna talks over Iran's nuclear program.

Rabiei declined to provide details about the negotiations, as he said talks about the remaining issues are still underway.

“General understandings have been reached on the main differences and we have agreed on the lifting of sanctions in most cases,” he said.

The remaining cases are very minor, the spokesman said, expressing hope about resolving the remaining minor and executive cases due to the negotiation process. 

On the possibilities of holding bilateral talks beyond negotiations made within the framework of the Iran nuclear deal – known as JCPOA – between Iran and the US, he said that there is no ground or necessity for holding talks between the two countries and that Iran has no plan for such negotiations.

News ID 193143

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