The Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, in response to the suspension of the implementation of the Additional Protocol by the Islamic Republic of Iran, said that without the lifting of the sanctions against Iran all efforts will be destroyed.

Iran PressEurope: "If the recent agreement with Iran had not been reached, Tehran could have taken irreversible steps," Rafael Grossi, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said on Tuesday.

"Without the recent agreement of the International Atomic Energy Agency with Iran, the inspections over Iran meant that Iran could take steps that could not be recovered or reversed," Grossi added.

The IAEA Director-General added: "This agreement will allow us to monitor and record all the key activities, not all of them, that take place during this period."

"This is not a political or legal agreement, this is an understanding and not a formal agreement," Grossi added.

Iran and the IAEA agreed last Sunday to suspend the implementation of the Additional Protocol and the access provided by the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in Iran altogether, and only Iran's safeguard obligations will be implemented; meanwhile, according to the law of the Iranian Parliament, no extra-supervisory access will be granted to the Agency and no extra-supervisory inspection will be performed.

Following the unilateral and illegal withdrawal of the United States from the JCPOA on (May 8, 2018), Iran tried to maintain the nuclear agreement, provided that the other parties to the agreement complied with their commitments, but the Europeans did not succeed in the practical measures to maintain the agreement.

In this regard, on May 8, 2019, on the anniversary of the US withdrawal from the JCPOA, the Supreme National Security Council of the Islamic Republic of Iran announced that Iran will gradually reduce its JCPOA obligations under Articles 26 and 36 of this agreement to balance its obligations with the received rights.

On February 23, the Islamic Republic of Iran suspended its voluntary actions under the JCPOA within the framework of “Strategic Action Plan to Lift Sanctions and Protect Iranian Nation’s Interests”.

According to paragraphs 26 and 36 of the JCPOA, Iran has the right to suspend its obligations, in whole or in part, if the other party fails to comply with its obligations. 219