Iran announced it is removing 27 nuclear surveillance cameras installed by the International Atomic Energy Agency
Iran is removing 27 surveillance cameras at nuclear facilities, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) head Rafael Grossi said Thursday, calling it a “serious challenge” to the agency’s work in the country.
“What we have been informed is that 27 cameras… are being removed in Iran,” he told reporters.
“So this of course poses a serious challenge to our ability to continue working there.”
Iran’s move is apparent further retaliation for the 35-nation IAEA Board of Governors’ resolution criticising Iran for failing to explain uranium particles at undeclared sites, which was passed on Wednesday evening. Grossi is due to hold a news conference on Iran at 11:15 GMT.
The motion — the first to criticise Iran since June 2020 — was approved by 30 members of the IAEA board of governors, with only Russia and China voting against it.
READ ALSO: Iran turns off 2 of UN nuclear watchdog’s cameras
The resolution came after the Vienna-based IAEA raised concerns about traces of enriched uranium previously found at three sites Tehran had not declared as having hosted nuclear activities.
“The adoption of the resolution, which is based on the hasty and unbalanced report of the director general of the IAEA and on false and fabricated information from the Zionist regime (Israel), will only weaken the process of cooperation and interaction between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the agency,” the foreign ministry statement said.
According to a report, the head of the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog agency said Thursday that Iran is removing 27 surveillance cameras from nuclear sites in the country.
Rafael Mariano Grossi, the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, made the comments at a suddenly called news conference in Vienna.
Grossi said the move poses a “serious challenge” to its efforts. Iran did not immediately acknowledge it.
Grossi said that would leave “40-something” cameras still in Iran. The sites that would see cameras removed include its underground Natanz nuclear enrichment facility, as well as its facility in Isfahan, Grossi said.
“We are in a very tense situation with the negotiations over the (nuclear deal) at a low ebb,” Grossi added. “Now we are adding this to the picture; as you can see it’s not a very nice one.”
On Wednesday, Iran said it shut off two devices the IAEA uses to monitor enrichment at Natanz. Grossi acknowledged that, saying that among the devices being removed was a crucial meter that tracks how high Iran is enriching uranium at Natanz.
Iranian officials had threatened Wednesday to take more steps amid a yearslong crisis that threatens to widen into further attacks.
That came ahead of a vote before the IAEA’s board censuring I ..
