Iran Restricts Nuclear Monitoring Program As IAEA Censure Looms

As diplomats prepare to publicly reprimand Iran for failing to cooperate with investigators, Iran attempted to further restrict the information that foreign nuclear inspectors can access, according to BNN Bloomberg.

According to the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency, authorities in Iran are disconnecting cameras connected to the Online Enrichment Monitoring system. The cameras were put at the Natanz enrichment complex, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency, as part of Iran's 2015 agreement with international powers.

The so-called OLEM technology was created by US laboratories and the International Atomic Energy Agency in order to assist account for Iran's enriched uranium stockpile.

According to IRNA, Iran's Atomic Energy Organization announced the action on Wednesday in response to the IAEA "taking Iran's cooperation for granted." An IAEA spokesman did not respond to a request for comment right away.

The 35-member board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency is meeting in Vienna this week. Diplomats circulated a draught resolution of censure criticising Iran for "chronic insufficient cooperation" with IAEA monitors, urging it to aid them in their inquiry into uranium traces discovered at undeclared locations.

Issues with IAEA Monitors 'Will Not Go Away,' Iran Warned.

Disabling the cameras is mostly a symbolic gesture ahead of the upcoming resolution debate. As part of its gradual retreat of inspection powers granted under the 2015 agreement, Iran stopped sharing data from the devices to agency monitors a year ago.

The agreement, which relieved Tehran of sanctions in exchange for curbing its nuclear activity, has all but disintegrated since the Trump administration withdrew in 2018, and Iran responded by swiftly boosting its enrichment programme.

In March, talks to restart the contract agreement came to a halt. Since then, the chances of an agreement have dwindled, and tensions between Iran and Western nations have risen.

“We are deeply concerned about the continued nuclear advance,” France, Germany and the UK said late Tuesday in a joint statement. “They risk unraveling the deal that we have so carefully crafted together.”