BAKU, Azerbaijan, Feb. 22
Trend:
Iran’s decision to end snap inspections by U.N. inspectors on Feb. 23 would not mean abandoning its 2015 nuclear deal, but the United States must still lift sanctions on Tehran to rescue the pact, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Sunday.
“All our steps are reversible. The move on Feb. 23 is not abandoning the deal,” Zarif said Trend reports citing Press TV.
“We enforce the laws approved by parliament. In the United States, the president can use his veto power to oppose any parliamentary decision, but we in Iran will not do so,” he said referring to the new law known as Strategic Plan to Lift Sanction Act.
He went on to say that Iran is not seeking nuclear weapons.
Under a law enacted by Iranian lawmakers last year, the government is obliged on Feb. 23 to limit IAEA inspections to declared nuclear sites only, revoking its short-notice access to any location seen as relevant for information-gathering, if other parties did not fully comply with the deal.
Rafael Grossi, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency who is in Tehran to discuss the agency’s “essential verification activities” met on Sunday with Iran´s atomic chief, state media reported.
Ali Akbar Salehi, head of the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran, said on Saturday that the agency’s concerns over Iran’s ending the implementation of the IAEA’s Additional Protocol - which entails snap inspections - will be discussed during his meeting with Grossi.