Iran: UN inspectors can no longer access images of nuclear sites

Tehran regime issues warning after deadline expires for European signatories to 2015 nuclear deal to provide relief from oil and banking sanctions, impairing UN watchdog's ability to analyze data regarding Iran's atomic activities
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Iran's parliament speaker said Sunday that international inspectors may no longer access surveillance images of the Islamic Republic's nuclear sites, escalating tensions amid diplomatic efforts in Vienna to save Tehran's atomic accord with world powers.
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    • Iran's parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf's comments, aired by state TV, further underscored the narrowing window for the U.S. and others to reach terms with Iran.
    The Islamic Republic is already enriching and stockpiling uranium at levels far beyond those allowed by its 2015 nuclear deal.
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    Head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization Ali-Akbar Salehi and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi     Head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization Ali-Akbar Salehi and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi
    The head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization Ali-Akbar Salehi, left, and IAEA chief Rafael Gross meeting in Tehran last year
    (Photo: Reuters)
    "Regarding this, and based on the expiration of the three-month deadline, definitely the International Atomic Energy Agency will not have the right to access images from May 22," Qalibaf said. May 22 was Saturday.
    The International Atomic Energy Agency had said its director-general would brief reporters later Sunday in Vienna. The United Nations agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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    Iranian President Hassan Rouhani visits one of the country's nuclear sites     Iranian President Hassan Rouhani visits one of the country's nuclear sites
    Iranian President Hassan Rouhani visits one of the country's nuclear sites
    (Photo: Reuters)
    Under what is called an "Additional Protocol" with Iran, the IAEA "collects and analyzes hundreds of thousands of images captured daily by its sophisticated surveillance cameras," the agency said in 2017.
    The agency also said then that it had placed "2,000 tamper-proof seals on nuclear material and equipment."
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    אתר הגרעין בנתנז     אתר הגרעין בנתנז
    Images from Iran's nuclear facility in Natanz
    Iran's hardline parliament in December approved a bill that would suspend part of UN inspections of its nuclear facilities if European signatories did not provide relief from oil and banking sanctions by February.
    The IAEA struck a three-month deal with Iran to have it hold the surveillance images, with Tehran threatening to delete them afterward if no deal had been reached.
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    Iranian atomic enrichment facilities Nataz nuclear power plant    Iranian atomic enrichment facilities Nataz nuclear power plant
    Iranian atomic enrichment facilities at the Nataz nuclear power plant
    (Photo: AFP)
    It wasn't immediately clear if the images from February had been deleted.
    Qalibaf said Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has final say on all matters of state, supported the decision.
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