عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
World

Iran: No Intention to Expel IAEA Inspectors

FILE PHOTO: The flag of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) flutters in front of their headquarters in Vienna, Austria March 4, 2019. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: The flag of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) flutters in front of their headquarters in Vienna, Austria March 4, 2019. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger/File Photo
TT
20
TT

Iran: No Intention to Expel IAEA Inspectors

FILE PHOTO: The flag of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) flutters in front of their headquarters in Vienna, Austria March 4, 2019. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: The flag of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) flutters in front of their headquarters in Vienna, Austria March 4, 2019. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger/File Photo

Iran's foreign ministry on Monday said that Tehran does not intend to expel the UN nuclear watchdog's inspectors, clarifying the implications of a controversial law approved by parliament last month.

The law, passed by the conservative dominated legislature despite opposition from the government, mandates Iran to discontinue certain inspections by late February if key conditions are not met, stoking international concerns about a possible expulsion of inspectors.

However, foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said on Monday that under the December law "Iran's cooperation with the (International Atomic Energy Agency) will not cease and it does not mean expelling the agency's inspectors."

According to AFP, the December law mandated the government to stop "the implementation of the additional protocol" to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) on February 21, if the US does not lift unilateral sanctions or other key parties to a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran do not help Tehran to bypass those sanctions.

The "additional protocol" is a document prescribing intrusive inspections of Iran's nuclear facilities.

At present, such inspections are carried out under this protocol, in addition to regular IAEA inspections under the 2015 deal, but the additional protocol has never been ratified by Iran's parliament.

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani slammed the December legislation -- known as the "strategic action plan for the lifting of sanctions and the protection of the Iranian people's interests" -- as "detrimental to the course of diplomatic activities" when it was still before parliament.

Former US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew Washington from the 2015 multilateral nuclear accord and reimposed sanctions on Tehran in 2018.

Iran in response has retreated from most of its key nuclear commitments under the 2015 deal, which gives Tehran relief from international sanctions in exchange for limits on its nuclear program.

Rouhani's government has signaled a readiness to engage with US President Joe Biden, who took office on January 20 and who has likewise expressed willingness to return to diplomacy with Tehran.

Most Viewed

 
World

3 Tourists among 4 Killed after Italian Cable Car Crashes into Ravine South of Naples

View of the Monte Faito cable car departure station in Castellammare di Stabia near Naples, southern Italy, Friday, April 18, 2025, with the cabin from which nine passengers were rescued when the traction cable broke Thursday, killing four people in another cabin that fell further up the mountain. (AP Photo/Salvatore Laporta)
View of the Monte Faito cable car departure station in Castellammare di Stabia near Naples, southern Italy, Friday, April 18, 2025, with the cabin from which nine passengers were rescued when the traction cable broke Thursday, killing four people in another cabin that fell further up the mountain. (AP Photo/Salvatore Laporta)
TT
20
TT

3 Tourists among 4 Killed after Italian Cable Car Crashes into Ravine South of Naples

View of the Monte Faito cable car departure station in Castellammare di Stabia near Naples, southern Italy, Friday, April 18, 2025, with the cabin from which nine passengers were rescued when the traction cable broke Thursday, killing four people in another cabin that fell further up the mountain. (AP Photo/Salvatore Laporta)
View of the Monte Faito cable car departure station in Castellammare di Stabia near Naples, southern Italy, Friday, April 18, 2025, with the cabin from which nine passengers were rescued when the traction cable broke Thursday, killing four people in another cabin that fell further up the mountain. (AP Photo/Salvatore Laporta)

Three tourists, including a British couple, were among four people who were killed when a mountain cable car plunged into a ravine south of Naples, officials confirmed Saturday.

Britain's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said in a statement that it is "supporting the families of a British couple who have died in Italy and are in touch with the local authorities.”

On Friday, a day after the accident, a spokesperson for the mayor of Vico Equense had said that the pair were siblings, but confirmed Saturday that that was based on bad information.

An Israeli woman was the third foreign victim to be identified following Thursday's accident.

The fourth victim was the Italian driver of the cable car. A fifth tourist, said to be the brother of the Israeli victim, is in a stable but critical condition at a Naples hospital, officials said, The AP news reported.

Initial reports suggested that a traction cable may have snapped as the cable car ascended Monte Faito, in the town of Castellammare di Stabia. The cable car plunged into a ravine after stopping very close to the station at the top of the peak, at around 1,050 meters (3,400 feet).

Sixteen passengers were helped out of another cable car that was stuck mid-air near the foot of the mountain following the incident.

The accident happened just a week after the cable car, which is popular for its views of Mount Vesuvius and the Bay of Naples, reopened for the season. It averages around 110,000 visitors each year.

The emergency services, including Italy’s alpine rescue, more than 50 firefighters, police and civil protection personnel, worked into the evening in severe weather conditions, with fog and strong winds making rescue operations difficult.

“The traction cable broke. The emergency brake downstream worked, but evidently not the one on the cabin that was entering the station," Luigi Vicinanza, the mayor of Castellammare di Stabia, said on Thursday. He added that there had been regular safety checks on the cable car line, which runs 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) from the town to the top of the mountain.

Local prosecutors have opened an investigation into possible manslaughter, which will involve an inspection of the cable stations, the pylons, the two cabins and the cable, officials said Friday.

The company running the service, the EAV public transport firm, said the seasonal cable car had reopened with all the required safety conditions.

“The reopening had taken place a week ago after three months of tests every day, day and night," said EAV President Umberto De Gregorio. "This is something inexplicable.”

De Gregorio said technical experts believed there was no connection between the severe weather and the cause of the crash. "There is an automatic system. When the wind exceeds a certain level, the cable car stops automatically,” he said.

The Monte Faito cable car opened in 1952. Four people died in 1960 when a pylon broke.

Italy has recorded two similar fatal accidents involving cable cars in recent years.

A cable car crash in May 2021 in northern Italy killed 14 people, including six Israelis, among them a family of four. In 1998, a low-flying US military jet cut through the cable of a ski lift in Cavalese, in the Dolomites, killing 20 people.