IRANIAN LAWMAKERS WANT TO LIMIT COOPERATION WITH U.N. NUKE AGENCY

Hardliners in Iran's parliament want to limit cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), even though a resolution is in sight regarding talks with the United States about ending sanctions linked to Iran's nuclear program, Farshid Motahari reported for Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa).

"The IAEA had three months to fulfill its obligations ... it did not do so and the deadline expired yesterday [Saturday]," parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on Sunday, according to the ISNA news agency. Accordingly, the UN agency should no longer have access to pictures of and information from Iran's nuclear facilities, Ghalibaf said.

However, President Hassan Rowhani reemphasized on Sunday that Iran intended to pursue the talks in Vienna under all circumstances. "The Americans have made clear that they wish to lift the sanctions," he told state television.

"For that reason we too will carry on with the negotiations up to final agreement." Rowhani did not say whether this would include a new agreement with the IAEA, but without it, final agreement remains impossible. IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said he would make a statement later on Sunday.

Under an interim agreement reached between Tehran and the IAEA at the end of February, full monitoring of Iran's nuclear facilities would only start when the 2015 Vienna nuclear deal was implemented, and US sanctions lifted.

Iran would continue to allow the IAEA to monitor, but not within the framework of the so-called IAEA Additional Protocol and, accordingly, only in a very limited way.

WEEKLY FEATURE : TRUEMONEY PHILIPPINES BUCKS THE COVID-19 CHALLENGE