UPDATE, JULY 26:

The head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran says monitoring cameras at Iranian nuclear facilities will be shut down until the 2015 nuclear deal is renewed.

Mohammad Eslami Issued the statemen on Monday, insisting, “Iran accepted to restrict its activities to pave the way for confidence building. However, [other parties] did not abide by their commitments.”

Iran cut off more than 20 monitoring cameras of the International Atomic Energy Agency on June 9, after the IAEA Board of Governors censured Tehran for failing to comply with inspections and to provide necessary information.

IAEA head Rafael Grossi said in an interview last Friday that Iran’s nuclear program “is advancing at a gallop and we have very little visibility”.

It has grown enormously, far beyond what it was in 2015. It is a growth that is not only quantitative but qualitative, also with the levels of enrichment.

This does not imply that Iran is making a nuclear weapon, but no country that does not have warlike projects enriches [uranium] at that level, at 60%.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman responded on Monday, “Unfortunately, Mr. Grossi has time and again taken an unprofessional and unfair approach vis-à-vis Iran’s nuclear program, especially in recent months. His views are not helpful and constructive.”

UPDATE, JUNE 10:

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, who has made only limited statements about the nuclear negotiations, has gone to the front over Tehran’s confrontation with the International Atomic Energy Agency.

During a visit to southwest Iran on Thursday, Raisi chided the IAEA for its resolution censuring Iran for failing to answer questions about uranium traces at undeclared nuclear sites:

How many times do you want to test the Iranian nation and not listen to the words of the country’s officials? Do you think that we will retreat as a result of issuing of resolutions?

Iran will not take a step back from its positions.

He insisted he spoke for all Iranians — “our youths are bent to make the enemy desperate in the clash of wills” — and blamed Israel: “We believe that this was done due to provocations by the Zionist regime.”

Raisi spoke as the head of the Atomic Energy Organization, Mohammad Eslami, confirmed that Iran has injected uranium gas into advanced IR-6 centrifuges — a further violation of the 2015 nucler deal — and disconnected two IAEA monitoring cameras.

“We have terminated the operations of a number of the agency’s cameras functioning outside the Safeguards, and tomorrow we will terminate the operations of the rest, which are 17 to 18 in total,” he said on State TV.

Raisi and Eslami issued their challenges as Iran’s currency hit an all-time low of 322,500:1 v. the US dollar.

See also Iran’s Currency Nears Historic Low as Protests Spread

UPDATE 1038 GMT:

Iran has escalated its threat to International Atomic Energy Agency surveillance of nuclear facilities, cutting off 20 rather than two cameras.

UPDATE, JUNE 9:

The International Atomic Energy Agency’s Board of Governors has censured Iran for lack of cooperation over its nuclear program, just after Tehran shut off two surveillance cameras at Natanz facility.

The censure resolution, sponsored by Germany, France, the UK and US, passed with the support of 30 of 35 governors. Russia and China voted against while India, Libya, and Pakistan abstained.

The resolution cited Iran’s refusal to answer questions about uranium traces at three undisclosed sites.

After the vote, a joint statement from the four sponsors said the censure “sends an unambiguous message to Iran that it must meet its safeguards obligations and provide technically credible clarifications on outstanding safeguards issues”.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh derided a “political, incorrect, and unconstructive action”.

Tehran further retaliated — and further broke provisions of the 2015 nuclear deal — by announcing plans to install two new cascades of advanced IR-6 uranium centrifuges.

Research and development of the IR-6s was prohibited under the agreement between Iran and the 5+1 Powers (US, UK, France, Germany, China, and Russia). Talks over renewal of the deal — including US re-entry after Donald Trump’s 2018 withdrawal, lifting of American sanctions, and Iran’s return to compliance — have been stalled since March.

See also Iran Denies Supreme Leader’s “Compromise” on Nuclear Deal

Behrouz Kamalvandi, a spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, threatened “other measures”: “We hope that they come to their senses and respond to Iran’s cooperation with cooperation. It is not acceptable that they show inappropriate behavior while Iran continues to cooperate.”

The Organization highlighted its warning by circulating video of the moment when the two surveillance cameras were turned off at Natanz.

Iran has already been withholding surveillance tapes from the IAEA since early 2021.

UPDATE, JUNE 8:

Raising the stakes in its dispute with the International Atomic Energy Agency, Iran has announced “plans to turn off a number of surveillance cameras” at its nuclear facilities.

Tehran announced the step as the IAEA’s Board of Governors convenes to consider a resolution rebuking Iran for its failure to answer questions about uranium traces at undeclared sites.

UPDATE, JUNE 2:

A draft resolution — by the US, France, the UK and Germany — calls on the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Board of Governors to rebuke Iran for its failure to answer questions about uranium traces at undeclared sites.

The four powers, all of whom were signatories to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, had refrained from submitting a resolution to the quarterly meeting of the Board of Governors, trying to avoid an impediment to the Vienna talks about renewal of the agreement.

But the negotiations have been stalled March over the US designation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps as a “foreign terrorist organization”.

Under the draft text, the IAEA Board “calls upon Iran to act on an urgent basis to fulfil its legal obligations and take up immediately the Director General’s offer of further engagement to clarify and resolve all outstanding safeguards issues”.

The Board meeting is scheduled for Monday, and the resolution could be modified before then.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said, “We will naturally respond in a strong and appropriate manner to any unconstructive action.”

He warned, “Those who regard the Board of Governors and the Director General’s report as leverage and tools of political games against Iran are responsible for the consequences.”

ORIGINAL ENTRY: The International Atomic Energy Agency reports little progress in talks with Iran, as Tehran increases its uranium stockpile to 18 times the limit set by the 2015 nuclear agreement with the 5+1 Powers (US, UK, France, Germany, China, and Russia).

The IAEA says in its latest report, to be reviewed by the IAEA’s 35-nation Board of Governors next week, that Tehran has not addressed the origin of uranium particles found at three undeclared sites.

“Iran has not provided explanations that are technically credible in relation to the Agency’s findings at those locations,” the report summarizes. “The Agency remains ready to engage without delay with Iran to resolve all of these matters.”

IAEA head Rafael Grossi has pursued a resolution of the matter for months, including talks in Tehran with Iranian officials.

Another quarterly IAEA report estimated that Iran’s total enriched uranium stockpile is now 3,809.3 kg (8,398 pounds), shattering the limit in the 2015 deal of 300 kg (660 pounds).

Iran has not only broken the restriction of enrichment to 3.67% uranium, resuming its pre-2015 output of 20%, but is stockpiling 60% uranium which can potentially be further enhanced to 90% military grade.

Iran now has 43.1 kg (95 pounds) of the 60% uranium, compared to 33.2 kg in the previous quarter.

The Vienna talks between Iran and the 5+1 Powers — seeking US re-entry into the 2015 nuclear deal, the removal of American sanctions on Tehran, and an Iranian return to compliance — have been stalled since March, largely because of the US designation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps as a “foreign terrorist organization”.

See also Iran Denies Supreme Leader’s “Compromise” on Nuclear Deal

Iran Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh insisted that the IAEA’s quarterly report had been written hastily and that “pressure exerted by the Zionists and some other parties” had diverted it from a “technical path to a political path” which “we hope to reform”.