Iran decided to ban the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency from its nuclear facilities and to remove surveillance cameras from them, claiming it discovered Israel’s government obtained “sensitive facility data,” according to media reports Saturday.
The vice speaker of the Iranian parliament, Hamid Reza Haji Babaei, announced the decision to bar IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi on Saturday during funerals of top military officials and nuclear scientists killed by recent Israeli strikes, Mehr news agency reported.
A ceasefire has been agreed between Israel and Iran, after a war that lasted 12 days. Israel had attacked Iranian highly protected nuclear facilities with drones and warplanes, aiming to prevent the regime from building a nuclear bomb, triggering counterattacks over Israeli’s cities from the Iranian regime.
Iran previously allowed the IAEA to access and inspect its nuclear plants and use sophisticated surveillance devices as a crucial commitment within the nuclear deal Tehran signed with France, Russia, the U.K., the U.S., Germany and the European Union in 2015 to keep its nuclear program under control.
The first Trump administration withdrew from that deal in 2018. Iran had threatened to remove surveillance cameras during recent negotiations on its nuclear program.