Iran - IAEA agree to extend monitoring agreement one month

The United Nations nuclear watchdog (The International Atomic Energy Agency) and Iran agreed on Monday to extend their monitoring agreement by one month.

Speaking at a press conference, International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi said the new deal would run through to 24 June.

This means that any information collected by technical equipment from different locations in Tehran will be under the agency's custody.

“I would say that if this understanding was important back in February, it was even in my eyes more important now,” he added, citing increased activity in Iran in recent months.

Yet in the background, Iran has been working towards the reinstatement of the 2015 nuclear deal between the Middle Eastern country and a number of countries in the West.

The future of talks to bring the US back into the Iran nuclear deal came under threat at the weekend after the UN nuclear watchdog said it had been unable to reach an expected agreement on how to continue to inspect Iran’s nuclear sites.

The one-month extension gives the US, Iran and the other five signatories to the deal, time to complete an agreement on how US sanctions against Iran will be lifted and a full return to the deal. In turn, Iran will have to return to full compliance with the agreement.