Iran’s nuclear agency has released footage of IAEA surveillance cameras being disconnected.
“We have terminated the operations of a number of the Agency’s cameras functioning outside the Safeguards [Agreement], and tomorrow we will terminate the operations of the rest, which are 17 to 18 in total”, AEOI chief Mohammad Eslami said in an interview with Iranian television on Thursday night.
Eslami stressed that the cameras had been a gesture of “good faith and optimism” aimed at building trust, and that they went beyond Iran’s obligations outlined in international agreements, including the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) – the landmark Iran nuclear deal which Washington unilaterally pulled out of in 2018, but is now seeking to return to via negotiations in Vienna.
The AEOI chief also announced that Iranian scientists had installed new advanced gas centrifuges and begun their operation. Eslami characterised the twin measures as “practical quid pro quo steps” in response to Wednesday’s “political” resolution by the IAEA board of governors.
The resolution, drafted by the US, the UK, France, and Germany, and adopted by members with a margin of 30 in favour, two opposed (Russia and China), and three abstentions, berated Iran over unaccounted for traces of enriched uranium purportedly found at three sites which Tehran did not declare to be hosting nuclear activities. Iran had previously dismissed these allegations, and said that it had provided the IAEA with a written explanation accounting for all of its concerns.
Speaking at the IAEA board of governors meeting on Monday, agency chief Rafael Grossi accused Iranian authorities of failing to provide “explanations that are technically credible in relation to the Agency’s findings at three undeclared locations”. Grossi demanded that Tehran immediately reveal “the current location, or locations, of the nuclear material and/or of the equipment contaminated with nuclear material” mentioned in the agency’s report.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh dismissed the report as “neither fair nor balanced”. Iranian media has also accused Grossi of “colluding” with Israel following the IAEA chief’s surprise visit to Israel last week ahead of the board of governors meeting.
In his remarks Thursday, Eslami charged the international nuclear watchdog of having been “taken captive” by Israel. “It is regrettable that an international institution has been taken captive by an illegitimate regime and its reputation has been questioned”, he said.
Israel, the only suspected nuclear weapons state in the Middle East, has repeatedly accused Iran of harbouring nuclear ambitions, and warned that it will not be bound by any agreement, including the JCPOA, if it decides to take unilateral military or other action to eliminate the “threat” to its security. Tehran has indicated that it has no ambitions to develop nuclear arms or any other weapons of mass destruction, and warned Tel Aviv that any aggression will be met with a crushing response.