IAEA director general press conference delayed until tomorrow

TEHRAN (Defapress) - The Wall Street Journal reported has tweeted that the Iran-IAEA extension agreement may well not happen today, while IAEA saying that Grossi's previously announced presser will take place tomorrow.

News ID: 83380

Date: 24 May 2021 - 03:35

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Rafael Grossi's consultations with Tehran on a technical memorandum between the IAEA and Iran have continued, and Grossi's press conference, scheduled for today, has been postponed to tomorrow, according to a statement on the IAEA website.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said in a statement that the exact time of the press conference would be announced later.

However, prior to that, Laurence Norman, the WSJ said in a tweet that "I’m hearing the Iran IAEA extension agreement may well not happen today now. This is not yet confirmed though."

The WSJ reporter in Brussels added "Discussions are being described as difficult by sources. Very possibly too difficult to get this sorted today I understand."

"Ie what access Iran is prepared to give for inspectors to get in and get access to installed equipment. And a delay until tomorrow won’t materially matter. But if this drags longer there is a real political problem. Some western officials will want to resume JCPOA talks as -4-" he also said in another tweet.

Earlier today, an informed source in the Secretariat of Iran's Supreme National Security Council announced the possibility of extending the agreement between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency for one month more.

Furthermore, the Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg stressed in an interview that the time for progress in Vienna talks between Iran and the P4+1 on the revival of the Iran nuclear deal is running out while important issues remain unresolved.

There was a temporary agreement between Iran and the IAEA over the partial implementation of the Additional Protocol by Tehran, which gave access to Iran nuclear sites to IAEA inspectors but expired on Friday, May 20.

Iran has vowed already that it will leave the Vienna talks if it feels they are taking time and the other parties are not serious and are just killing the time.

The decision to stop implementation of the Additional Protocol was in accordance with a piece of legislation approved in Parliament last December which set a deadline for the US to lift all the sanctions otherwise Iran will leave the Protocol. Iran has so far increased uranium enrichment to above 60% in compliance with the parliament law.

The top Iranian negotiator told the Japanese NHK on Wednesday that the Iranian government would decide later on extending cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog.