Iran has maintained its defiant stance against Washington by blocking maritime navigation in the Strait of Hormuz and continuing its refusal to allow nuclear inspectors to enter facilities targeted by recent bombings on its territory.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced to the Tasnim News Agency that three vessels "tried to conduct an unauthorized transit through the Strait of Hormuz," and IRGC vessels blocked them from doing so. The report added that the ships turned around and retraced their paths.
In Iran, officials responded on Friday to statements made by Rafael Grossi, the chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency, who declared that under the agreement with Iran, inspectors would be permitted to enter all nuclear facilities in the country. Iran will not allow UN nuclear inspectors to enter key sites like Fordo, Natanz, and Isfahan before a final nuclear agreement is reached, the Fars News Agency reported on Friday, citing sources familiar with the contents of the memorandum of understanding between the US and Iran.
According to the sources quoted by Fars News Agency, the role of the IAEA is defined solely for the period following a final agreement. The report noted that Article 8 of the memorandum outlines one possible option for handling nuclear material as diluted within Iran under IAEA supervision, but only after four issues are resolved, which include the full removal of sanctions, the details of economic rehabilitation for Iran, the scope and framework of the withdrawal of US forces from the region, and the closure of the nuclear file.
