Iran Pulls U.N. Nuke Cameras in Possible "Fatal Blow" to Deal

June 10, 2022

Author: 

Jon Gambrell

Publication: 

Associated Press

On June 8, the board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) censured Iran because the country has not offered a credible explanation for the presence of nuclear material at three sites that Iran had failed to declare to the IAEA. Rafael Mariano Grossi, the director-general of the IAEA, announced a day later that Iran had begun to remove 27 cameras that the IAEA uses to monitor nuclear sites throughout the country, including the Arak heavy water reactor, the Natanz enrichment facility, and other locations in Isfahan and Tehran; Iran had already indicated on June 8 that it shut down two IAEA monitoring devices in Natanz. Grossi said that, after the anticipated removals, about 40 IAEA cameras would remain active in Iran. On June 9, the Agency also reported that Iran intended to add two more cascades of advanced IR-6 centrifuges at Natanz, following the in-progress installation of a previously planned IR-6 cascade there.