Iran and IAEA Extend Monitoring Deal, Averting Crisis in Nuclear Talks

Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) are extending a recently expired monitoring agreement by a month, both sides said on Monday, avoiding a collapse that could have pitched wider talks on reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal into crisis. The move gives breathing space to indirect negotiations between the United States and Iran that resume in Vienna this week. European diplomats had warned that failure to extend the monitoring pact would endanger those talks, which aim to bring the two countries back into full compliance with the 2015 pact. The reprieve will only be brief, however, since the…