SpaceWar.com - Your World At War
Iran stops using nuclear site after attack: UN watchdog
Vienna, Jan 31 (AFP) Jan 31, 2022
Iran has informed the International Atomic Energy Agency it has stopped production at one of its nuclear facilities attacked last June and transferred work to another site, the watchdog said Monday.

The move responded to a "security concern" following the attack, with the new site "better protected", a European diplomat told AFP.

The TESA complex in Karaj, which is near the capital Tehran, hosted a workshop to build components for centrifuges, machines used to enrich uranium.

Iran said cameras at the site were damaged on June 23, 2021 during what it called an Israeli "sabotage" operation.

In the aftermath, the Vienna-based IAEA said it did not receive permission to gain access and replace the surveillance equipment damaged in the attack.

The two parties finally struck an agreement in December and new cameras were installed.

However, IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said "Iran had informed the Agency on 19 January that it intended to produce centrifuge rotor tubes and bellows at a new location in Esfahan," according to the UN watchdog.

It said "the Agency could adjust its surveillance and monitoring measures accordingly".

"A few days later, Agency inspectors applied seals on all the relevant machines in the Karaj workshop, placed them under containment and then removed the surveillance cameras installed there," it said.

"As a result, the production of centrifuge rotor tubes and bellows at the Karaj workshop had ceased," it added.

Then on January 24 IAEA inspectors set up cameras at a site in Esfahan "to ensure the machines intended for the production of centrifuge rotor tubes and bellows were under monitoring", it said.

It added that the production of the centrifuge equipment at the new workshop had yet to begin.

Iran has sharply accelerated its nuclear activities in the years since US president Donald Trump withdrew from the 2015 international nuclear deal and imposed sweeping sanctions on Tehran.

The 2015 deal -- struck between Iran and the United States (under president Barack Obama), Germany, France, Britain, China and Russia -- offered Iran drastic relief from international sanctions in return for draconian curbs on its nuclear programme.

After President Joe Biden entered the White House just over a year ago, talks to revive the nuclear deal began in April 2021 in Vienna.

But they stopped for several months as the Islamic republic elected a new ultraconservative government.

The talks finally resumed in late November and are now in their final phase that requires political decisions, according to parties involved in the talks.


ADVERTISEMENT




Space News from SpaceDaily.com
NASA Mars Orbiter Captures Volcano Peeking Above Morning Cloud Tops
Unexpected Dust Patterns Found on Uranus Moons Confound Scientists
Earth-based telescopes offer a fresh look at cosmic dawn

24/7 Energy News Coverage
UK nuclear site could leak until 2050s, MPs warn
ABC Solar Marks 25 Years With Grand Opening at AltaSea
UK plans solar 'revolution' for new homes

Military Space News, Nuclear Weapons, Missile Defense
Attacking Iran, Israel brazenly defies 'man of peace' Trump
Rubio warns Iran against targeting US over Israeli strikes
AI-enabled control system helps autonomous drones stay on target in uncertain environments

24/7 News Coverage
If people stopped having babies, how long would it be before humans were all gone?
UK's sunniest spring yields unusually sweet strawberries
Nations call for strong plastics treaty as difficult talks loom



All rights reserved. Copyright Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.