Iran says international inspectors may no longer get access to images of nuclear sites

Iran’s hard-line parliament speaker said on Sunday a temporary deal between Tehran and international inspectors to preserve surveillance images taken at nuclear sites had ended, escalating tensions amid diplomatic efforts to save the Islamic Republic’s atomic accord with world powers.

As fellow hardliners demanded Iran delete the images, officials delayed an earlier-planned news conference by the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna. That signalled negotiations between the United Nations agency and Tehran will continue throughout Sunday night.

The last-minute discussions further underscored the narrowing window for the United States and others to reach terms with Iran. The Islamic Republic is already enriching and stockpiling uranium at levels far beyond those allowed by its 2015 nuclear deal.

Iran’s hard-line parliament in December approved a bill that would suspend part of United Nations inspections of its nuclear facilities if European signatories did not provide relief from oil and banking sanctions by February. The IAEA struck a three-month deal with Iran in February to have it hold the surveillance images, with Tehran threatening to delete them afterward if no deal had been reached.

That three-month deadline expired on Friday under the Gregorian calendar. Under the Persian calendar, however, the three-month deadline comes on Monday.

On Sunday morning during a session of parliament, speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf announced the deal had expired. He said Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has final say on all matters of state, supported the decision to see the deal as void.