TEHRAN — An informed source at the Supreme National Security Council has said that the deal between Iran and United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will be “conditionally" extended for a month, according to the Noor News Agency.

The three-month monitoring deal between Tehran and the UN nuclear watchdog expired on Saturday.

The IRNA news agency also quoted an unnamed official as saying, “If extended for a month and if during this period major powers ... accept Iran’s legal demands, then the data will be handed over to the Agency. Otherwise the images will be deleted forever.”

The possible extension is intended to give the Vienna talks a chance to possibly revive the 2015 nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Delegate have said talks on revitalizing the JCPOA are progressing. However, they have said key issues remain unresolved. 

The delegates will possibly reconvene in Vienna on Tuesday.

Iranian Parliament Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said on Sunday that three-month monitoring deal between Tehran and the United Nations nuclear watchdog expired on Saturday.

IAEA chief Rafael Grossi is in talks with Iran on extending the monitoring arrangement which could have an impact on negotiations in Vienna, the IAEA said.

“From May 22 and with the end of the three-month agreement, the agency will have no access to data collected by cameras inside the nuclear facilities agreed under the agreement,” Qalibaf said.

Iran and global powers have held several rounds of negotiations since April in Vienna, working on steps that Tehran and Washington must take, on sanctions and nuclear activities, to return to full compliance with the 2015 nuclear pact.

Iran began gradually reducing terms of the 2015 pact one year after former President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the deal in May 2018 and re-imposed sanctions.

In response to sanctions, the Iranian parliament passed a law last year to prevent short-notice inspections by the IAEA of Iran’s nuclear facilities. 

SA/PA