Iran announces withdrawal of 27 IAEA cameras

On Thursday, Iran informed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that it would withdraw up to 27 cameras and other surveillance equipment operated by the agency to monitor the Islamic Republic's nuclear sites, under the terms of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), better known as the Iranian Nuclear Deal.

This move would make it impossible for the IAEA to monitor Iranian nuclear activities, according to IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi. Subtracting these devices, the IAEA would still have "about 40 cameras", but "basically" all the extra cameras installed under the JCPOA would be disconnected, according to the director general.

Calling the Persian country's actions a "serious challenge", Grossi said the chances of returning to the PAIC would be reduced as a result. "This would be a fatal blow to the negotiations," the director general said. Earlier, Grossi had warned that "in just a few weeks" Tehran could obtain the uranium needed to make a nuclear weapon.

The announcement comes a day after Tehran pulled the plug on two more chambers in a pre-emptive move ahead of an IAEA resolution passed shortly afterwards. This one, drafted by the E3 countries (France, the UK and Germany) and the US, is the first to criticize Iran since June 2020, citing its uranium enrichment activities.

Shortly afterwards, the IAEA reported that Iran had informed the agency of its plans to install new advanced IR-6 centrifuges, which allow it to enrich uranium much faster than its PAIC-permitted counterparts. These would be located at Natanz, one of the sites affected by the Persian country's withdrawal of monitoring devices.

The E3 countries issued a joint statement, in which they condemned Tehran's actions, stressing that they come against a backdrop of increasing Iranian non-compliance with conditions. "These actions only aggravate the situation and complicate our efforts to restore the previous implementation of the JCPOA," the statement continued.

For his part, Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, issued a press statement warning that Iran's actions would only lead to a "deepening nuclear crisis and further economic and political isolation of Iran" and said they would complicate Washington's efforts to "return to full implementation of the JCPOA", but stopped short of condemning the Islamic Republic's actions. "We continue to press Iran to choose diplomacy and de-escalation instead," the statement concluded.

The Iranian Nuclear Deal was signed in 2015 by the E3 countries, the EU, China, Russia, the US and Iran, with the aim of limiting Iran's nuclear programme to civilian technology in exchange for the removal of international sanctions, ending a crisis that had dragged on since 2003.

Although Tehran has always maintained that its program was for peaceful purposes and never aimed at acquiring nuclear weapons, both UN experts and Western countries have accused the Islamic Republic of pursuing a military program.