TEHRAN -- Iran is to allow the UN nuclear agency to service monitoring cameras at Iranian nuclear sites after talks on Sunday with IAEA head Rafael Grossi, according to the head of Iran’s atomic energy body and a joint statement.
The talks with International Atomic Energy Agency chief Grossi were aimed at easing a standoff between Tehran and the West just as it threatens to escalate and scupper negotiations on reviving the Iran nuclear deal amid the U.S. stonewalling.
“We agreed over the replacement of the memory cards of the agency’s cameras,” Muhammad Eslami, who heads the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), was quoted as saying.
Eslami described the negotiations between Iran and the Vienna-based IAEA as “sheerly technical” without any room for politics. He said Grossi would return to Iran soon to talk with officials, without elaborating.
“The memory cards are sealed and kept in Iran according to the routine,” Eslami said. ”New memory cards will be installed in cameras. That is a routine and natural trend in the agency’s monitoring system.”
“IAEA’s inspectors are permitted to service the identified equipment and replace their storage media which will be kept under the joint IAEA and AEOI seals in the Islamic Republic of Iran,” the nuclear bodies said in a joint statement.
Grossi was expected to hold a news conference at Vienna airport around 8:30 p.m. (1830 GMT) after returning later on Sunday, the IAEA said.
“I am glad to say that today were able to have a very constructive result, which has to do with the continuity of the operation of the agency’s equipment here,” Grossi said.
Mikhail Ulyanov, the Russian ambassador to the IAEA, praised the agreement on Twitter, calling it “technical but very important.”
“It is no less important for Iran to rebuff groundless speculations against it,” Ulyanov wrote.
The Sunday understanding in Tehran is crucial to talks in Vienna to revive the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), as the nuclear agreement is officially called.
Talks on returning the U.S. to compliance with the deal have been halted since June.
Under the 2015 deal between Iran and major powers, Tehran agreed to restrictions on its nuclear energy program in exchange for the removal of sanctions.
President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the deal in 2018, re-introducing the most draconian sanctions. Iran responded as of 2019 by scaling back its compliance, enriching uranium to a higher purity.
According to Reuters, Western powers must decide whether to push for a resolution criticizing Iran and raising pressure on it at next week’s meeting of the agency’s 35-nation Board of Governors.
However, a news website close to Iran’s Supreme National Security Council refuted the speculation even before Grossi’s visit to Tehran,

making it clear that no resolution will be issued at the meeting.
“Basically, there are no anti-Iran resolutions on the agenda of the upcoming meeting of the agency’s Board of Governors,” Nour News agency reported.
The IAEA told member states in reports this week that there had been no progress on two central issues: explaining uranium traces found at several old, undeclared sites and getting urgent access to some monitoring equipment.
The agency has a history of relying on “information” supplied by the U.S. and the Israeli spy agency of Mossad to claimed “uranium traces” at some sites.
As for the new traces, Iranian officials have stated that their origins have been explained to the IAEA and the issue has been settled long before.
For access to monitoring equipment, Iran says it will allow as much as the Safeguards Agreement dictate and scrap further voluntary measures which the country had taken to show its goodwill.