US Gives Iran 3 Months To Comply w/IAEA Probe: WSJ

Following on from 0952GMT bullet, WSJ's Laurence Norman has the latest on US statement at IAEA Board of Governors meeting:

• "US charge d'affaires to IAEA, "The United States shares with others deepening concern over the developments reported by the Director General. Compliance with safeguards obligations is not optional and is separate from Iran's implementation of its JCPOA commitments. To provide the international community with the confidence Iran says the world should have in the peaceful nature of its nuclear program, Iran must cooperate fully with the IAEA without further delay to resolve these issues." From this, sounds like Iran has been given 3 more months to get compliance with IAEA probe in order to avoid censure. US charge d'affaires. "Iran has now been given another opportunity by the Director General to offer up the necessary cooperation before this Board next meets. We will be watching closely for a constructive Iranian response that enables the substantive progress. The United States...will calibrate our views on the Board's next steps according to whether Iran seizes the opportunity...to finally and credibly address the IAEA's concerns"."
• MNI View: The prospect of the US re-joining the JCPoA as-is remains limited. Yesterday, President Biden's nominee for Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, speaking at her confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said "I would note that 2021 is not 2015, when the deal was agreed; nor 2016, when it was implemented. The facts on the ground have changed, the geopolitics of the region have changed and the way forward must similarly change." The E3 and the EU are keen to broker a meeting between US and Iranian officials sooner rather than later. On the Iranian side this could be helped by the approaching presidential election. Incumbent President Hassan Rouhani is coming to the end of his time in office with elections due in June and he cannot run again due to term limits. As such he, as a moderate within Iranian politics, may be keen to leave a legacy of better relations with the west as he leaves office.