VIENNA, Nov 17 (Reuters) – The U.N. nuclear watchdog on Wednesday issued reports detailing its conflicts with Iran, from rough treatment of its inspectors to re-installing cameras it deems “essential” for the revival of Tehran’s nuclear deal.
Indirect negotiations between Iran and the United States on reviving the 2015 deal are due to resume on Nov. 29, after a quarterly meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s 35-nation Board of Governors at which diplomats say no action is likely to be taken against Iran for fear of harming the talks.
“This is seriously affecting the Agency’s ability to restore continuity of knowledge at the workshop, which has been widely recognized as essential in relation to a return to the JCPOA,” one of the reports said, using the abbreviation for the deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
The workshop at the TESA Karaj complex makes components for centrifuges, machines that enrich uranium. One of four IAEA cameras there was destroyed. Iran then removed them all, and the footage from the destroyed camera is missing.
The other report said that Iranian security guards continued to perform “excessively invasive physical searches” of IAEA inspectors. read more