The International Atomic Energy Agency said on Thursday that Iran was removing 27 surveillance cameras at its nuclear facilities, warning this could be a "fatal blow" to negotiations to revive a 2015 nuclear deal.
IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said his agency had been informed that 27 cameras were being removed, leaving about 40 still in place.
Iran and world powers agreed in 2015 to the nuclear deal, which saw Tehran drastically limit its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.
In 2018, then-US president Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew America from the accord. Talks began in April last year to bring the United States back into that landmark agreement.
The negotiations also aim to lift sanctions against Iran and bring it back into compliance with nuclear commitments it made to world powers as part of the deal.
But the ever-delicate dialogue has been stalled since March – and, raising tensions, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) members on Wednesday passed a resolution censuring Iran over its lack of cooperation with the watchdog.
Iran has condemned the rebuke as "unconstructive" and announced on Wednesday it had disconnected some IAEA cameras monitoring its nuclear sites.
