Iran and U.N. watchdog agree on nuclear verification issue as wider negotiations struggle

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian later called it a “good deal.”

December 16, 2021

Iran and the United Nations nuclear watchdog agency announced Wednesday that they have reached an agreement on one of the most serious outstanding verification issues between them, offering a possible breakthrough in negotiations here over Iran’s nuclear program, the Washington Post reports.

In reports confirmed by the International Atomic Energy Agency, government-affiliated Iranian news agencies said that Tehran had “voluntarily” agreed to allow the IAEA to replace monitoring cameras that were damaged by an alleged Israeli sabotage strike last summer at a facility manufacturing components for advanced uranium centrifuges.

The IAEA said that the cameras, “to be installed in the coming days, will replace those removed … earlier this year” from the facility at Karaj, southwest of Tehran. The agreement, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said, “will enable us to resume the necessary continuity of knowledge at this facility.”

The announcement came as diplomats sent mixed signals on the progress of talks to revive the 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and six world powers. The accord has largely collapsed since the Trump administration withdrew from it more than three years ago and began reimposing harsh economic sanctions on Iran. Iran, in response, began escalating its nuclear activities.