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Reports Point to Reinstallation of IAEA Surveillance Cameras in Iranian Nuclear Sites

An inspector from the Atomic Energy Agency installs surveillance cameras at the Natanz facility on August 8, 2005 (AP)
An inspector from the Atomic Energy Agency installs surveillance cameras at the Natanz facility on August 8, 2005 (AP)
    London – Tehran – Vienna – Asharq Al-Awsat
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Reports Point to Reinstallation of IAEA Surveillance Cameras in Iranian Nuclear Sites

An inspector from the Atomic Energy Agency installs surveillance cameras at the Natanz facility on August 8, 2005 (AP)
An inspector from the Atomic Energy Agency installs surveillance cameras at the Natanz facility on August 8, 2005 (AP)

The Arms Control Agency (ACA) reported that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) began reinstalling cameras at certain nuclear facilities in Iran under an agreement reached with Tehran in March.

At the beginning of March, IAEA Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi reached an agreement with Iranian officials to restart surveillance cameras at several nuclear sites and increase inspections at the Fordow facility.

After Grossi’s return, Tehran said that there was no agreement regarding the installation of new cameras in Iran’s nuclear facilities. The IAEA director-general had told reporters at Vienna airport upon his return from Tehran that the two parties had agreed to re-install all additional surveillance equipment, such as surveillance cameras, which had been placed at the nuclear sites under the 2015 deal with the major powers, and which Tehran had removed in stages.

The report of the Washington-based ACA, does not point to the number of surveillance cameras that Tehran has agreed to install. No comment was made by the IAEA and the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization in this regard.

ACA quoted Grossi as saying in an interview with PBS NewsHour on Apr. 1 that the agency is “starting with the installment of cameras” and the “reconnection of some online monitoring systems.” He said the process will take a few weeks and will increase the agency’s visibility into Iran’s nuclear program.

He also described the reinstallation of the surveillance equipment as a “deescalation” of the tensions over Iran’s nuclear program, ACA reported.

It is not clear whether the recent agreement between Grossi and Tehran includes the delivery of surveillance camera recordings, that is, the process that Tehran has rejected since its abandonment of the “additional protocol” attached to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in February 2021.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani sent a new warning message to the IAEA at his weekly press conference on Monday regarding comments made by agency officials about Tehran’s commitment to the recent agreement.

“We do not see raising such issues in the media as useful. We recommend agency officials to avoid the media. Given the recent agreement and Iran’s reception of IAEA delegations, they should be allowed to confirm issues in their natural and technical tracks,” Kanaani noted, as quoted by ISNA.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Monday that the diplomatic track was still open, stressing that his country continued to exchange messages through various means.

He added that Tehran “is ready to complete the nuclear negotiations while preserving its red lines.”

At the same time, Kanaani warned the Western parties against triggering the “snapback” mechanism stipulated in the nuclear agreement, which allows those parties to the re-impose, or “snapback” all sanctions if Iran failed to comply with the agreement.

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Nepalis Fear More Floods as Climate Change Melts Glaciers

Residents told AFP they are afraid to return to their home in the Himalayan foothills as there are 'still lakes above'. Migma NURU SHERPA / AFP
Residents told AFP they are afraid to return to their home in the Himalayan foothills as there are 'still lakes above'. Migma NURU SHERPA / AFP
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Nepalis Fear More Floods as Climate Change Melts Glaciers

Residents told AFP they are afraid to return to their home in the Himalayan foothills as there are 'still lakes above'. Migma NURU SHERPA / AFP
Residents told AFP they are afraid to return to their home in the Himalayan foothills as there are 'still lakes above'. Migma NURU SHERPA / AFP

Mingma Rita Sherpa was not home when the muddy torrent roared into his village in Nepal without warning, but when he returned, he did not recognize his once beautiful settlement.
It took just moments for freezing floodwaters to engulf Thame in the foothills of Mount Everest, a disaster that climate change scientists say is an ominous sign of things to come in the Himalayan nation, AFP reported.
"There is no trace of our house... nothing is left," Sherpa said. "It took everything we owned."
Nepal is reeling from its worst flooding in decades after ferocious monsoon rains swelled rivers and inundated entire neighborhoods in the capital Kathmandu, killing at least 236 people.
Last weekend's disaster was the latest of several disastrous floods to hit the country this year.
Thame was submerged in August by a glacial lake that burst high in the mountains above the small village, famous for its mountaineering residents.
It was once home to Tenzing Norgay Sherpa, the first person to climb the world's highest mountain Everest, along with New Zealander Edmund Hillary.
"We are afraid to return, there are still lakes above," Sherpa said.
"The fertile land is gone. It is hard to see a future there," he added, speaking from the capital Kathmandu, where he has moved.
A glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) is the sudden release of water collected in former glacier beds.
These lakes are formed by the retreat of glaciers, with the warmer temperatures of human-caused climate change turbocharging the melting of the icy reservoirs.
Glacial lakes are often unstable because they are dammed by ice or loose debris.
'Rebuild or relocate'
Thame was a popular stop during the trekking season, perched at an altitude of 3,800 meters (12,470 feet) beneath soaring snow-capped peaks.
But in August, during the monsoon rains, the village was largely empty.
No one was killed, but the flood destroyed half of the village's 54 homes, a clinic and a hostel. It also wiped out a school started by Hillary.
Sherpa, like many in the village, ran a lodge for foreign trekkers. He also worked as a technician at a hydropower plant, a key source of electricity in the region. That too was damaged.
"Some are trying to rebuild, but the land is not stable," he said. "Parts continue to erode."
Thame's residents are scattered, some staying in neighboring villages, others in Kathmandu.
Local official Mingma Chiri Sherpa said the authorities were surveying the area to assess the risks.
"Our focus right now is to aid the survivors," he said. "We are working to help the residents rebuild or relocate".
'Predict and prepare'
Experts say that the flood in Thame was part of a frightening pattern. Glaciers are receding at an alarming rate.
Hundreds of glacial lakes formed from glacial melt have appeared in recent decades.
In 2020, more than 2,000 were mapped across Nepal by experts from the Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), with 21 identified as potentially dangerous.
Nepal has drained lakes in the past, and is planning to drain at least four more.
ICIMOD geologist Sudan Bikash Maharjan examined satellite images of the Thame flood, concluding it was a glacial lake outburst.
"We need to strengthen our monitoring... so that we can, at least to some extent, predict and prepare," he said.
"The risks are there... so our mountain communities must be made aware so they can be prepared".
Scientists warn of a two-stage impact.
Initially, melting glaciers trigger destructive floods. Eventually, the glaciers will dry up, bringing even greater threats.
Glaciers in the wider Himalayan and Hindu Kush ranges provide crucial water for around 240 million people in the mountainous regions.
Another 1.65 billion people depend on them in the South Asian and Southeast Asian river valleys below.
- 'Himalayas have changed' -
Former residents of Thame are raising funds, including Kami Rita Sherpa, who climbed Everest for a record 30th time this year.
Kami Rita Sherpa said the locale had long been a source of pride as a "village of mountaineers", but times had changed.
"The place has no future now", he said. "We are living at risk -- not just Thame, other villages downhill also need to be alert."
The veteran mountaineer said his beloved mountains were under threat.
"The Himalayas have changed," he said. "We have now not only seen the impact of climate change, but experienced its dangerous consequences too."