Iran repeats its warning that some intrusive nuclear inspections will stop by month's end

Iran’s Foreign Ministry once again warns that certain UN nuclear inspections under the “additional protocol” of the 2015 nuclear deal will cease next week if other parties to the deal “fail to meet their obligations” by February 21.

A bill passed by the conservative-dominated legislature in December, despite opposition from a reformist government, mandates the government to stop “the implementation of the additional protocol” to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) on February 21, if the US does not lift unilateral sanctions or other key parties to a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran do not help Tehran to bypass those sanctions.

In this photo released by the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, technicians work at the Arak heavy water reactor’s secondary circuit, as officials and media visit the site, near Arak, southwest of the capital Tehran, Iran, Monday, Dec. 23, 2019 (Atomic Energy Organization of Iran via AP)

The “additional protocol” is a document prescribing intrusive inspections of Iran’s nuclear facilities.

At present, such inspections are carried out under this protocol, in addition to regular IAEA inspections. Iran is threatening that the latter will continue but the former will stop.