Washington, June 09, 2022, SPA -- US Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated that Iran must cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and provide technically credible information, stressing that it is the only way to drop the guarantees issues from the Agency’s agenda. In a press statement today, on the IAEA Board of Governors' decision on Iran, Blinken said that yesterday his country joined the overwhelming majority of the IAEA Board of Governors in expressing its support for the agency's core mission of protecting nuclear materials to prevent nuclear proliferation. He stated that the decision lies at the core of the IAEA's mandate and Iran's obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, not on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). "The United States remains committed to a mutual return to full implementation of the JCPOA, and we are ready to conclude a deal based on the understandings we negotiated with our European allies in Vienna over several months, and such a deal has been available since March, but we cannot conclude negotiations and implement them unless Iran drops extraneous demands,” Blinken said. "Unfortunately, Iran's initial response to the council's action was not to address the lack of cooperation and transparency that led to a negative report from the IAEA Director General and this serious concern among the IAEA Board members, but instead Iran responded by committing more nuclear provocations and more reductions in transparency,” he added. Blinken stressed that these steps will be counterproductive, and will further complicate efforts to return to the full implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, and the only result of such a path will be a deepening nuclear crisis and further economic and political isolation for Iran, vowing to continue putting pressure on Iran to choose diplomacy and reduce escalation. --SPA 21:01 LOCAL TIME 18:01 GMT 0024 www.spa.gov.sa/w1744748