TEHRAN, Iran (AP) – Iran shut down two surveillance devices used by UN inspectors to monitor uranium enrichment in the Islamic Republic on Wednesday, further exacerbating the crisis by its nuclear program. Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers continues to fall apart.
The move appeared to be a new pressure technique just before the board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency, meeting in Vienna, passed a resolution criticizing Iran presented by Western nations. Censorship deals with what the watchdog refers to Iran’s failure to provide “credible information” about nuclear material found in undeclared sites across the country.
But Iran’s latest measure, announced by state television, makes it even harder for inspectors to control Tehran’s nuclear program. Non-proliferation experts have warned that Iran now has enough uranium enriched near weapons grade levels to pursue an atomic bomb if it so chooses.
The state television report, later repeated by other Iranian media, said authorities had turned off “cameras beyond the guarantees of the online measurement enrichment monitor … and the flowmeter.” This apparently refers to IAEA online monitors watching uranium gas enrichment through pipes in enrichment facilities.
In 2016, the IAEA said it installed the device for the first time at the Iranian underground nuclear facility at Natanz, its main enrichment site, located about 200 kilometers (125 miles) south of the Natanz. capital, Tehran. The device made it possible to “monitor 24 hours a day” the waterfalls of the installation, a series of connected centrifuges to quickly turn the uranium gas to enrich it.
“Traditional methods of sampling and analysis can take three weeks or more, mainly due to the time it takes to send the sample from Iran to IAEA laboratories in Austria,” the agency said at the time.
Iran is also enriching uranium in its underground facilities in Fordo, although the IAEA is not known to have installed these devices there.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran has so far had extensive cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency,” state television said in a report on Wednesday. “Unfortunately, the agency, without considering this cooperation … not only did not appreciate this cooperation, but also considered it a duty of Iran.”
Tehran said its civilian nuclear arm, the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, oversaw the shutdown of the cameras. He said that 80% of the existing cameras are IAEA “safeguard” cameras and will continue to operate as before. Safeguards refer to IAEA inspections and monitoring of a country’s nuclear program.
The Vienna-based IAEA declined to comment immediately. However, Iran’s move came after IAEA Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi criticized Iran for failing to provide “credible information” about unexplained nuclear material discovered in three undeclared Iranian sites. point of discussion between the agency and Tehran.
An IAEA report released on Wednesday afternoon identified Iranian sites as Marivan, near the city of Abadeh, and Turquzabad and Varamin on the outskirts of Tehran. The report said Iran claimed the traces came from the “sabotage” of a third country, which the IAEA said Tehran did not offer any evidence to support.
Iran has been holding images from IAEA surveillance cameras since February 2021 as a pressure tactic to restore the atomic agreement.
Iran and the world powers agreed on a nuclear deal in 2015, which saw Tehran drastically limit its uranium enrichment in exchange for lifting economic sanctions. In 2018, then-President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the United States from the deal, raising tensions across the Middle East and provoking a series of attacks and incidents.
Talks in Vienna over Iran’s broken nuclear deal have been stalled since April. Since the collapse of the agreement, Iran has advanced centrifuges and has a rapidly growing uranium-rich storage. Non-proliferation experts warn that Iran has enriched enough up to 60% purity, a brief technical step from 90% weapon grade levels, to making a nuclear weapon if it decides to do so.
Iran insists its program is for peaceful purposes, although UN experts and Western intelligence agencies say Iran had a military nuclear program in place until 2003.
Building a nuclear bomb would take even longer in Iran if it were to pursue a weapon, analysts say, but warns that Tehran’s advances make the program more dangerous. Israel has in the past threatened to carry out a pre-emptive strike to stop Iran, and a number of recent killings of Iranian officials are already suspected.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday called on Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and spoke of the need to revive the nuclear deal, the Kremlin said.
The resolution of censure at the IAEA meeting in Vienna, sponsored by Germany, France, the United Kingdom and the United States, was approved with the support of 30 of the 35 governors. Russia and China voted against, Russian Ambassador Mikhail Ulyanov wrote on Twitter. India, Libya and Pakistan abstained.
Following the vote, a joint statement from France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States said that censorship “sends an unequivocal message to Iran that it must fulfill its safeguarding obligations and provide technically credible clarifications on issues. pending safeguards “.
Meanwhile, the Iranian Foreign Ministry criticized the censorship as a “political, incorrect and unconstructive action.”
An Iranian official had earlier warned IAEA officials that Tehran was now also considering “other measures”.
“We hope that they will come to their senses and respond to Iran’s cooperation with cooperation,” said Behrouz Kamalvandi, a spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran. “It is not acceptable for them to behave inappropriately while Iran continues to cooperate.”
On Wednesday night, a drone exploded in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil, in its Kurdish region, slightly injuring three people and damaging cars and a nearby restaurant, authorities said. Although no one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, Iran has targeted Irbil in the past amid regional tensions.
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Gambrell reported from Dubai, UAE.