Iran's top security body says it has approved cooperation agreement with IAEA

According to the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), the secretariat of the SNSC issued a statement Sunday on the agreement signed by Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi in Egypt's capital, Cairo, earlier this week.

The agreement signed on Sept 9 contains arrangements to resume cooperation between Tehran and the IAEA.

The Islamic Republic suspended the cooperation in June this year following airstrikes by Israel and the United States on three Iranian nuclear facilities during the 12-day unprovoked war of aggression that Israel had launched on the Islamic Republic on the 13th of that month.

"The text of these arrangements was reviewed by the Nuclear Committee of the Supreme National Security Council, and what has been signed is essentially the same as what was approved by that committee," the statement read.

According to the statement, the Nuclear Committee, which is composed of senior officials from relevant institutions, has always been authorised by the SNSC to make decisions. For the new agreement with the IAEA, the Committee has acted in accordance with the usual procedure, it added.

The statement also provided a brief explanation on how Iran and the IAEA should cooperate on the three nuclear sites of Isfahan, Natanz, and Fordow that were struck by the US and Israel.

It said, after the necessary security and safety conditions are established, Iran will submit its report to the IAEA only after obtaining the opinion of the SNSC. Also, the practical methods for Iran-IAEA cooperation on the report submitted to the agency should be agreed upon by the two sides, and that any action must be approved by the SNSC.

Iran's top security body emphasised that the implementation of the new arrangements agreed by Tehran and the IAEA would be stopped if any hostile action was taken against Iran and its nuclear sites, including the restoration of UN sanctions that had been lifted under the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

The SNSC was referring to a move last month by Britain, France, and Germany -- known collectively as the E3 and all parties to the Iran deal -- to restore those sanctions by activating the "snapback mechanism."