Iran reiterated its intention to remove the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) surveillance cameras from nuclear facilities if US sanctions are not lifted in three months.
The Head of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), Ali Akbar Salehi, affirmed in remarks on state TV that his country decided to remove the cameras.
Salehi asserted that Tehran is ready for diplomatic talks, but not in the way the United States and the Europeans imagine, insisting that sanctions should be lifted in advance as a precondition for negotiations.
He warned that Iran could increase uranium enrichment to 60 percent relatively quickly.
According to the international nuclear agreement, Iran is only allowed to enrich uranium to a level of less than four percent, while uranium must be enriched to 90 percent for a nuclear bomb.
Meanwhile, an Iranian document revealed that Tehran had threatened to end an agreement concluded with IAEA that temporarily maintains most of its monitoring if the agency’s board adopts a US-led effort to criticize Tehran next week.
Earlier, Tehran scaled back its cooperation with the Agency, ending extra inspection measures introduced by its 2015 nuclear accord with major powers, according to Reuters.
It was the latest of many steps retaliating for the US reimposed sanctions after former President Donald Trump pulled out of the agreement in 2018.
In its own paper sent to other IAEA member states ahead of next week’s quarterly meeting of the 35-nation Board of Governors, Washington said it wants a resolution to “express the Board’s deepening concern with respect to Iran’s cooperation with the IAEA”.
The US paper obtained by Reuters said the board should call on Iran to reverse its breaches of the deal and cooperate with the IAEA to explain how uranium particles were found at old, undeclared sites. The issue was first reported by the media and confirmed in an IAEA report this week.
“Iran perceives this move as destructive and considers it as an end to the Joint Understanding of 21 February 2021 between the Agency and the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Iran said in its own paper sent to other countries and obtained by Reuters.
It said that this could lead to further complications in relation to the 2015 nuclear deal by its full name, adding that France, Britain, Germany, and the US had “revealed their plans” for a board resolution.
Diplomats said it was still unclear whether the board would adopt a resolution.
In June, after the IAEA said Iran had denied it access for snap inspections at two sites where it later found uranium particles, the board passed a resolution calling on Iran to relent, which was opposed by Russia and China.
