Iran has dismantled 27 surveillance cameras of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) at different nuclear facilities in the Islamic Republic, as reported by the director of the United Nations nuclear agency, Rafael Grossi. The move comes after the IAEA Board of Governors approved the first resolution critical of Iran since 2020.
The head of the IAEA has specified that it is facilities located in Tehran, Isfahan and Natanzthe latter where there is a large uranium enrichment plant, a material that can have civil and military use.
The resolution adopted by the Board of Governors this Wednesday with a large majority among its 35 members is critical of Iran for its lack of transparency in cooperation with the UN nuclear agency.
The first resolution critical of Iran since 2020
The text presented by the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Germany expresses their “deep concern” that despite intense contacts between Iran and the IAEA, the origin of some fissile traces found in three places not declared as nuclear in the Islamic Republic has not been clarified.
In addition, it makes an “appeal” to Iran to act urgently “to comply with its legal obligations”in reference to the safeguards agreement (controls) that it has signed with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
In today’s vote, 30 of the 35 countries on the Board voted in favor of the resolution and only China and Russia they voted against, while India, Pakistan and Libya abstained, diplomatic sources informed Efe.
The resolution has been presented after the most recent IAEA report on Iran, in which it is criticized that the lack of transparency makes it impossible for inspectors to give guarantees that Iranian declarations about its nuclear program are complete and correct.
Iran installs centrifuges and disconnects security cameras
Iran has reacted preemptively to the resolution, announcing hours before the vote that it will disconnect two IAEA surveillance cameras at a nuclear facility. Besides, will install advanced centrifuges IR-6 at the Natanz nuclear plant.
Now the director general of the nuclear agency has reported that Iran has dismantled 27 IAEA surveillance cameras and that, after this measure, about 40 agency surveillance cameras remain. these cameras are key to verifying the progress of the nuclear program from Iran.
Tehran assures that the traces, the origin of which the IAEA wants to know, must be to sabotage – supposedly by Israel, its main enemy in the Middle East –an explanation that Grossi himself described this week as “technically not credible.”
Electronic surveillance of Iran’s nuclear activities has been limited since February 2021, when Iran decided to cut off live access to the data for inspectors.
Since then, data from cameras is only stored on hard drives, which should the 2015 International Nuclear Agreement (JCPOA) be restored they can be analyzed by inspectors to reconstruct Iran’s nuclear activities.
The spokesman for the Atomic Energy Agency of Iran (AEAI), Behruz Kamalvandí, has justified turning off the cameras by considering that the IAEA has not considered the “good will” of Tehran in its collaboration with the UN body, to which accuses him of “having a political agenda”.
Kamalvandí, who personally supervised the shutdown of the cameras, also warned that Iran may “take further action” if the IAEA’s “ill will” continues.
Contamination of remote areas by sabotage
At the same time, the AEAI has ensured that 80% of IAEA cameras will continue to function at their nuclear facilities. “The IAEA director general can imagine that a large country like Iran is prone to contamination in remote areas by human sabotage,” Kamalvandí said yesterday.
The clash between Tehran and the IAEA and the Western countries of the Junta comes with the negotiations to save the JCPOA paralyzed since mid-March.
The JCPOA nuclear pact limited Iran’s atomic program in exchange for the lifting of sanctions, but in 2018 then-US President Donald Trump abandoned it and reimposed sanctions on Iran.
Tehran responded a year later by accelerating its nuclear efforts and enriching uranium.
According to the latest IAEA report this month, Iran already has more than 3,800 kilos of uranium enriched in different forms and purities, ranging from 5% to 60%, a level close to what is required to produce atomic weapons ( 90%).