TEHRAN, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) -- Iran said it would suspend all access by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to the country's nuclear facilities beyond a safeguard agreement.
In a statement carried by the official IRNA news agency on Monday, the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran said the country and the IAEA have agreed that access beyond Iran's safeguard commitments would be suspended.
Therefore, "there will no access and no inspection beyond safeguard agreements as stated in the law passed by Iran's parliament," the statement said.
Referring to the continuation of necessary verifications and monitoring by the IAEA, the statement said that "Iran will record and maintain the information related to some activities ... for 3 months."
"During this period, the IAEA will have no access to the (recorded) information, and it will be kept only by Iran. If (U.S.) sanctions are removed in this period of 3 months, Iran will transfer the information to the IAEA; otherwise, the information will be removed forever," it added.
On Sunday, the IAEA reached a temporary bilateral understanding with Iran to "salvage the nuclear deal for now," said Director General of the IAEA Rafael Grossi.
Iran will stop implementing voluntary measures as envisaged in the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, commonly known as the Iran nuclear deal, as of Feb. 23, Grossi said.
"There is less access, let's face it. But still we were able to retain the necessary degree of monitoring and verification work," he added. Enditem
