Sep 26, 2021 - World

Iran fails to fully comply with nuclear monitoring agreement

The flag of Iran is seen among others

The flag of Iran is seen among others ahead of a press conference by the director general of the IAEA on May 23 in Vienna, Austria. Photo: Thomas Kronsteiner/Getty Images

The International Atomic Energy Agency said Sunday that Iran has failed to fully comply with the terms of a recently reached nuclear monitoring agreement, Reuters reported.

The big picture: Under the Sept. 12 agreement, Iran must allow the agency to access its monitoring equipment and replace its memory cards. Iran allowed agency inspectors to do their work everywhere except one location.

  • From Sept. 20 through Sept. 22, Iran "permitted IAEA inspectors to service identified agency monitoring and surveillance equipment and to replace storage media at all necessary locations in Iran with the exception of the centrifuge component manufacturing workshop at the TESA Karaj complex," the IAEA statement said, per Reuters.
  • In June, the TESA Karaj complex was subject to an apparent sabotage, and one of the four cameras there was destroyed. The IAEA has asked Iran to locate the camera's "data storage medium" and to explain the incident, per Reuters.

Of note: Iranian officials said recently that they expect to restart nuclear talks with world powers in the "next few weeks," while signaling a tougher stance toward the U.S.

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