UN watchdog says Iran agrees to 1-month extension of deal

Speaking at a news conference Monday in Vienna, IAEA Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi told journalists that came after a discussion with Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of Iran''s civilian nuclear program. 

Under a confidential agreement called an “Additional Protocol” with Iran, the IAEA collects and analyses images from a series of surveillance cameras installed at Iranian nuclear sites. Those cameras helped it monitor Tehran''s programme to see if it is complying with the 2015 nuclear deal. 

Iran''s hard-line parliament in December approved a bill that would suspend part of UN inspections of its nuclear facilities if European signatories did not provide relief from oil and banking sanctions by February. 

The IAEA then struck a three-month deal with Iran in February to have it hold the surveillance images, with Tehran threatening to delete them afterward if no deal had been reached. 

Iran since has broken all the deal''s limits after then-President Donald Trump in 2018 unilaterally withdrew America from the accord. Negotiations continue in Vienna to see if both the US and Iran can re-enter the deal, which limited Tehran''s enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.