Iran, IAEA Reach Temporary Agreement on Future Coop.

Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency reached a temporary technical understanding during the director general’s visit on how to continue cooperation in light of Tehran’s decision to suspend some of its nuclear measures as of Feb. 23.  
IAEA Chief Rafael Grossi had travelled to Tehran on Sunday to meet Iranian authorities after Tehran announced a plan to stop the implementation of voluntary measures envisaged in the 2015 nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, as per a parliamentary legislation. 
He held separate discussions with Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to find a mutually agreeable solution for the agency’s future verification and monitoring activities.
An agreement was reached based on which Iran will completely stop implementing the Additional Protocol while providing access as required by JCPOA, and will continue to implement its Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement, AEOI said in a statement. 
Under JCPOA, IAEA inspectors are supposed to have limited access to non-nuclear Iranian facilities in case of suspected illegal nuclear activity.
But under the law passed by the parliament in December, the Iranian government is required to stop allowing intrusive inspections as of the deadline unless there was an easing of sanctions reimposed by the United States after its withdrawal from the nuclear deal in 2018. 
“In accordance with the parliamentary law, no access beyond the CSA will be given to the IAEA and no inspection beyond the CSA will be performed,” the AEOI said its website. 
A joint statement by Salehi and Grossi, published by IAEA, said the two sides agreed that Iran will continue to implement “fully and without limitation its Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement with the IAEA as before”.
It added that they reached “a temporary bilateral technical understanding, compatible with the [parliamentary] Law, whereby the IAEA will continue with its necessary verification and monitoring activities for up to 3 months (as per a technical annex)”. 

Confidential Annex 

The annex, which includes a list of Iranian nuclear facilities, will remain confidential due to security considerations and the need for keeping secret the exact location of Iran’s key facilities, according to the AEOI. 
The organization, however, provided further explanation in its statement about the agency’s activities within the next three months. 
“Iran will record the data of some of its activities and monitoring equipment identified in the annex, and keep them for three months,” AEOI said.  
The agency will have no access to this information during this period, according to the statement. 
“If the sanctions are fully removed within three months, Iran will share the data with the IAEA; otherwise, it will be erased forever,” it added.
The law passed by the parliament in December was aimed at countering US sanctions and protecting the interests of the Iranian nation. 
It set a Feb. 23 deadline for the suspension of voluntary measures to provide time for the removal of sanctions and decided to proceed with the plan as the US refused to ease its bans. 
Iran and the agency agreed to keep the technical understanding under regular review to ensure it continues to achieve its purposes, according to the joint statement. 
Grossi declared on Twitter after his visit that his “intensive consultations” led to a “good result”. 
“A temporary technical understanding has been reached. The@IAEAorg will continue its necessary verification and monitoring in #Iran,” he said.