Top Iran lawmaker says UN inspectors will no longer have access to nuclear sites images
23 May 2021
Iran's parliament speaker said that a three-month monitoring agreement with the UN International Atomic Energy Agency has expired, so inspectors can no longer access images of nuclear sites, state media reported Sunday.
Why it matters: The remarks by Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf underline the "narrowing window for the U.S. and others" to strike a deal with Iran, which has been enriching uranium at levels much higher than the 3.7% agreed to in the 2015 nuclear deal, AP notes.
Driving the news: The IAEA and Iran reached an agreement in February that allowed UN inspectors to continue necessary verification and monitoring of the country's nuclear facilities for up to three months.
- "Regarding this, and based on the expiration of the three-month deadline, definitely the International Atomic Energy Agency will not have the right to access images from May 22," Qalibaf said.
The big picture: Iran stepped up its enrichment efforts by building centrifuges and enriching nuclear materials to levels that violated the deal after former President Trump withdrew the U.S. from the international agreement in 2018.
What to watch: IAEA head Rafael Grossi, who's been in talks with Iranian officials to extend the monitoring deal, was due to hold a news conference on Sunday afternoon, Reuters reports.
Go deeper: U.S. and Iran remain far apart as nuclear talks reach critical stage
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.