E3 Backing for US Plan at IAEA Will Mess Up JPCOA

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the European countries’ support for a US plan to issue an anti-Iran resolution at the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Board of Governors will make a mess of the situation surrounding the 2015 nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.    
“The Europeans triggered a wrong move with the backing of the US at the IAEA Board of Governors. We think the move will make a mess of the situation,” Zarif said on Monday.  
The IAEA’s 35-nation Board of Governors is holding a quarterly meeting this week against the backdrop of faltering efforts to revive the nuclear deal, IRNA reported. 
Britain, France and Germany are reportedly pressing ahead with a US-backed plan for a resolution by the United Nations nuclear agency’s board, criticizing Iran for curbing cooperation with the agency, despite Russian and Iranian warnings of serious consequences.
The three European powers, all parties to the nuclear deal, circulated a draft resolution for the Vienna meeting voicing “serious concern” at Iran’s reduction of transparency and urging Iran to reverse its steps.
The draft, sent to IAEA board members and obtained by Reuters, also voices disquiet at the “lack of progress” in obtaining explanations from Iran about uranium particles found at three old sites.
Iran has reduced its compliance with the deal in response to the US withdrawal in 2018 and the reimposition of sanctions that had been lifted under it.
It has recently accelerated its measures beyond the limits of the deal, most recently scaling back cooperation with IAEA.
Last week, Iran ended additional inspection and monitoring measures introduced under the deal, including the power given to the agency to carry out snap inspections at facilities that have not been declared to be related to nuclear energy.

Options to Take 

Zarif warned against a likely anti-Iran resolution, saying the Iran has some options to take in reaction.
“We have provided the necessary explanations about these conditions to all members of the Board of Governors. We hope that reason will prevail, and if that does not happen, we have options to take,” he said. 
Earlier on Sunday, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran also warned that Iran would respond appropriately.
Ali Akbar Salehi said Tehran has sent a letter to the nuclear agency saying that it "perceives this move as destructive and considers it as an end to the Joint Understanding of 21 February 2021 between the Agency and the Islamic Republic of Iran.” 
He referred to a deal with IAEA chief Rafael Grossi to temporarily continue many of the monitoring measures Iran had decided to end in a black-box-type arrangement aimed at creating a window for diplomacy.
Based on the agreement, any footage recorded by cameras at Iran’s nuclear sites will no longer be shared with IAEA, but will be retained by Iran for three months, after which they will be permanently deleted if the US sanctions are still in place.
It is unclear how many countries would support a resolution. In its own position paper obtained by Reuters, Russia warned that a resolution could hurt efforts to revive the deal and it would oppose it.
“Adoption of the resolution will not help the political process of returning to the normal comprehensive implementation of the JCPOA,” Russia’s note to other member states said.
“On the contrary, it will hugely complicate those efforts undermining the prospects for the restoration of the JCPOA and for normal cooperation between Iran and the Agency.”
Russia’s Permanent Representative to the International Organizations in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov had also called upon all JCPOA partners and other IAEA governors to be “prudent” and to refrain from taking “clumsy and irresponsible” steps that can undermine the prospects for the full restoration of the deal in the near future through businesslike negotiations.
Hopes of reviving the deal rose after a new administration came to power in the US, which declared an interest in rejoining the deal. Efforts, however, are facing an impasse, with both Iran and the US insisting the other take first step in resuming compliance.