Iran says UN can’t see images from cameras at nuclear site until sanctions end

The UN atomic watchdog will not be able to examine camera images from a nuclear facility near Iran’s Karaj until after sanctions are lifted, an Iranian official says.

The comment came a day after Tehran and the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said they had reached agreement on replacing the cameras at the facility which makes centrifuges.

That agreement came after Western powers warned time is running out to revive a 2015 deal under which Iran pledged to reduce its nuclear capabilities — under IAEA supervision — in exchange for sanctions relief.

Iran says the video surveillance cameras were damaged in a June attack that it blames on Israel.

“The cameras will be installed in a way that they take images which will be stored in the cameras’ memory,” says Behrouz Kamalvandi, spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran.

“When they are full, the memory cards will be removed and placed under the joint control of Iran and the Agency,” he says, quoted by state news agency IRNA. “In other words, the Agency will not have any access to the information before sanctions are lifted.”