BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 17. Iran's relations with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) continue within the Tehran Declaration, Vice President of Iran and President of the country’s Atomic Energy Organization (AEOI) Mohammad Eslami told reporters, Trend reports via ISNA.
Eslami made the remark on the sidelines of the meeting of the Iranian Cabinet of Ministers in Tehran.
According to him, Iran's relations with IAEA are based on the Treaty of the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). He said that control activities under the NPT continue and there have been no issues.
The official added that the IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi expressed his approval for cooperation with Iran.
However, it’s important to note that the IAEA isn't a negotiating party for Iran in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) regarding Iran's nuclear program. The 5+1 group is the negotiating party within Iran's Joint Comprehensive Action Plan.
In January 2016, JCPOA was launched between Iran and the P5+1 group (US, Russia, China, UK, France, and Germany) in connection with Iran's nuclear program. In May 2018, the US announced its withdrawal from the deal and imposed sanctions on Iran in November of the same year.
To preserve the agreements reached as part of the JCPOA, the European signatories of the deal started in January 2019 that a financial mechanism for maintaining trade with Iran called INSTEX was formed.
On May 8, 2019, Iran announced that it had ceased fulfilling its commitments regarding the sale of over 300 kilograms of uranium, as stated in the deal, basing its decision on the other signatories that have not fulfilled their obligations. On July 7, Iran announced that it will not be fulfilling its commitments regarding the enrichment of uranium at 3.67 percent and the reconstruction of the Arak Heavy Water Reactor Facility as stated in the deal.
Iran announced that it will enrich uranium using next-generation centrifuges and will not mix it with the enriched uranium residues as part of the third step of reducing commitments in JCPOA on Sept.5.
On Nov. 5, 2019, Iran announced that it took the fourth step in connection with reducing its commitments to the nuclear agreement. So, uranium gas is being pumped to the centrifuges at the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant.
On Jan.2020, Iran took the last fifth step in reducing the number of its commitments within JCPOA.
The US imposed new sanctions on Iran in November 2018. Over the past period, the sanctions affected Iranian oil exports, more than 700 banks, companies, and individuals. The sanctions have resulted in the freezing of Iranian assets abroad.