Tehran: The spokesman of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) has said only after meticulous technical, security and judicial inspections, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)’s surveillance cameras will be installed at TESA Karaj Complex, a centrifuge component manufacturing workshop in north-central part of the country, according to AEOI’s official website.
Following exchange of views between the AEOI and IAEA, it was decided that the latter should cooperate duly with the former to ensure that the cameras would not be used for acts of sabotage at the site, according to AEOI Spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi on Thursday.
Cameras at the nuclear facility were damaged as a consequence of an act of sabotage in June, Xinhua news agency reported.
According to Kamalvandi, due to the immunity of the cameras, it is not possible to open them without the agency’s consent. He added the two sides have agreed that Iran should be provided with a camera for accurate technical inspections.
The IAEA’s technicians are also required to answer the questions Iranian security and safety experts may have about the cameras, the AEOI Spokesman noted.
Expounding on the function of the cameras, he said, they will only take photos and store them on their memory cards.
“When the memory cards are full, they are removed and jointly sealed by Iran and the agency. In other words, the agency will, in no way, have access to the data,” he added.
He stressed that the measures are taken based on a strategic action plan approved by the Iranian Parliament in 2020 to lift US unilateral sanctions and protect people’s interests, which prevents IAEA supervision beyond the scope of the Safeguards Agreements.
The recorded data will be handed over to the IAEA only if the Parliament’s action plan’s goals have been met, according to Kamalvandi.
“In other words, only when all sanctions are lifted, we will be able to provide the agency with the data so that they would be able to use them for the continuity of knowledge process.”
According to a press release issued by the IAEA on Wednesday, the IAEA and AEOI have agreed soon to install new surveillance cameras at TESA Karaj Complex.
The cameras, to be installed in the coming days, will replace those that were removed from the Karaj centrifuge component manufacturing workshop earlier this year, according to the press release.