Hassan Beheshtipour, a university professor and foreign policy expert, wrote in a memo for Iran Newspaper on Tuesday:
If both sides were unable to reach the extended agreement, the Vienna talks would come to an end at this stage; so, the 2015 Iran nuclear deal would be on the verge of complete failure. If such a scenario took place, Iran's friends (Russia and China) could not help and might come closer to the US and Europe in dealing with Tehran's nuclear program.
There are some people inside Iran, who opposed the extension of monitoring agreement, despite the fact that they are well aware that such a stance would bring to an end the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). The IAEA is naturally entitled to monitor peaceful nuclear activities of all countries. The Islamic Republic is only showing its commitments under the JCPOA.
Despite the fact that the United States withdrew from the nuclear deal in May 2018, Tehran stayed committed to the agreement; but the Europeans did not keep their end of the bargain, so after waiting for over one year, Iran decided to scale back its commitments under the JCPOA in five stages, each of which took 60 days.
The Iranian legislators called on President Hassan Rouhani's administration to halt implementation of the Additional Protocol to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and remove the IAEA's surveillance cameras. If the demands were met, there would remain no hope for reviving the JCPOA.
A temporary agreement between the IAEA and Iran in March translates into taking time to the process of revitalizing the international accord. The extension of agreement is a message for all sides to speed up negotiations in Vienna and strike a deal to revive the JCPOA.
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