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Iran shifts centrifuges from nuclear site with IAEA cameras

Iran shifts centrifuges from nuclear site with IAEA cameras
posted onFebruary 1, 2022
noyorum

Iran has moved production of parts for advanced centrifuges, used to enrich uranium, from a site where the International Atomic Energy Agency has its monitoring cameras there.

The move comes only a month after Iran had finally agreed to allow the UN nuclear watchdog to reinstall surveillance cameras there, the watchdog said on Monday.

This adds uncertainty over Iran's nuclear activities while indirect talks between Tehran and Washington on saving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal are at a very sensitive stage.

The site at the TESA Karaj complex was the victim of alleged sabotage in June that Iran blamed on Israel.

One of the International Atomic Energy Agency's four surveillance cameras at Karaj was destroyed in the apparent attack. Iran removed all four after the incident and the destroyed camera's footage is still missing, Reuters reported.

Last month, Iran finally agreed to let the IAEA re-install its cameras at the site.

"On 19 January 2022, Iran informed the Agency that it intended to produce centrifuge rotor tubes and bellows at a new location in Esfahan, instead of at the centrifuge component production workshop at the TESA Karaj complex, and that the Agency could adjust its surveillance and monitoring measures accordingly," a confidential IAEA report seen by Reuters said.

The IAEA issued a statement summarising the report's contents. Both said the IAEA placed seals on machines at Karaj and removed its cameras there, adding that production at Karaj had "ceased".

It is unclear what exactly happened at Karaj after the incident and whether equipment that could potentially be used to make nuclear weapons was secretly siphoned off, diplomats say according to Reuters.