Iran and I.A.E.A. Reach Last-Minute Deal on Nuclear Monitoring

BRUSSELS — In a last-minute deal before Iran was likely to be censured for violating its agreements with the International Atomic Energy Agency, the new government in Tehran agreed on Sunday to let the organization reset monitoring devices that help measure the progress of the country’s nuclear program.

That deal has been considered a minimum requirement for a resumption of talks in Vienna on trying to restore compliance with the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, which President Donald J. Trump abandoned in 2018. President Biden wants to rejoin the deal, but talks, which have not resumed since June, have been hampered by the desire of both Iran and the United States to alter or enhance it. The nuclear deal essentially put tough limits on Iran’s ability to enrich uranium in return for the lifting of punishing economic sanctions.

Mr. Trump restored most of those sanctions and added to them; Iran responded by breaking the enrichment limits and is now much closer to having enough highly enriched uranium to create a nuclear weapon — which Tehran still insists it has no intention of doing.

The director-general of the nuclear agency, Rafael M. Grossi, made a quick visit to Iran this weekend and worked out at least a temporary arrangement with Mohammad Eslami, the chief of the country’s Atomic Energy Organization.

In a joint statement issued on Sunday, they agreed that I.A.E.A. inspectors could service the monitoring equipment, which includes cameras, and replace their storage cards with new ones. But as agreed in a similar emergency deal last February, the contents of the storage cards are kept under seal and will be released to the agency only when and if Iran and the United States agree on a revival of the 2015 deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

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https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/12/world/europe/iran-iaea-nuclear-deal.html