Tehran, Iran

Averting a diplomatic showdown, Iran on Sunday agreed to allow UN nuclear watchdog to install new memory cards into surveillance cameras at its sensitive nuclear sites.

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The announcement was made by Mohammad Eslami of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) after a meeting with the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, in Tehran.

The announcement is likely to buy more time for Iran ahead of the IAEA board meeting this week where the Western powers had been arguing for Tehran to be censured over its lack of cooperation with international inspectors.  Eslami said Iran would take part in that meeting and its negotiations with the IAEA would continue there.

“We agreed over the replacement of the memory cards of the agency’s cameras,” Mohammad Eslami, who heads the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), was quoted as saying by Iranian news agencies.

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“IAEA’s inspectors are permitted to service the identified equipment and replace their storage media which will be kept under the joint IAEA and AEOI seals in the Islamic Republic of Iran," the nuclear bodies said in a joint statement.

“I am glad to say that today, (we) were able to have a very constructive result, which has to do with the continuity of the operation of the agency’s equipment here,” Grossi said.

It “is indispensable for us to provide the necessary guarantee and information to the IAEA and to the world that everything is in order.”

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Iran and the world powers agreed in 2015 to the nuclear deal, which saw Tehran drastically limit its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.

In 2018, then-president Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew America from the accord, raising tensions across the wider Middle East and sparking a series of attacks and incidents.

After taking power, President Joe Biden said he’s willing to re-enter the accord, but so far, indirect talks have yet to see success.

(With inputs from agencies)