US warns Iran after two of UN nuclear watchdog’s surveillance cameras are turned off

Agencies | Vienna      

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

The US said yesterday that it was co-sponsoring a resolution with European partners calling on Iran to take action on an “urgent basis” to fulfill its legal obligations toward the UN nuclear watchdog agency but stressed it was not looking for any escalation.

This came as Iran removed two surveillance cameras of the IAEA from one of its nuclear facilities yesterday, state television reported, a move that is likely to raise tensions with the UN nuclear watchdog.

“It is essential that Iran provide the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) with all information and documents deemed necessary by the IAEA in order to clarify and resolve its questions,” US Ambassador to the IAEA Laura Holgate said at the board of governors meeting.

“We are not taking this action to escalate a confrontation for political purposes. We seek no such escalation,” she added. The US has been holding off on pushing to censure Iran at the IAEA with the hopes that it would be able to convince Iran to revive the 2015 nuclear deal, which the US withdrew from under former US President Donald Trump.

But recent reports from the IAEA over the unexplained presence of uranium particles at three different sites in Iran have raised fears in Washington that Tehran is inching closer to being able to acquire a nuclear weapon.

Turquzabad, Varamin, and Marivan are the three different sites that the IAEA has raised questions over. And in recent days, Iran has threatened to respond to any attempts to criticise it at the IAEA board of governors meeting.

Holgate warned that if Iran reduced transparency in response to the latest resolution, it would be counterproductive to the diplomatic outcome the US was looking for.

“Restricting IAEA access and attempts to paint the IAEA as politicised for simply doing its job will serve no purpose,” she said.

“Iran must cooperate with the IAEA to allow it to fulfill its verification and monitoring mandate without further delay,” Holgate said.

“Again, we do not seek escalation. Instead, we seek credible explanations, consistent with Iran’s safeguards obligations, that can finally put these issues behind us.”