(Vienna) The director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, on Friday expressed “doubts” about the absence of data from one of the surveillance cameras of an Iranian nuclear site, targeted by an attack in June.
Several aircraft were damaged on June 23 according to Iran, which then claimed to have foiled an Israeli “sabotage” operation against the Tesa complex located in Karaj, near Tehran.
Since that date, the IAEA had not had the “essential” authorization to access the site housing a workshop for the manufacture of centrifuge components.
This week it found an arrangement with Iran to replace the equipment, described as “very important” by Mr. Grossi.
But the UN body was unable to recover the memory cards of a camera destroyed in the incident, or even fragments.
“We have doubts about this and we asked them” what happened to them, the IAEA chief told reporters in Vienna.
PHOTO ALEX HALADA, FRANCE-PRESS AGENCY
The Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi
“I hope they will give us an answer because it is very strange” that they disappear.
Another source of concern, “the lapse of time between stopping the cameras [en juin] and now “.
“We cannot compensate for this loss [d’informations] but we have many methods and approaches that can help us piece the puzzle together, ”Grossi said.
In Karaj, as on other sites where Iran has restricted inspections since February, the IAEA will only be able to view the content of the surveillance tools once the American sanctions have been lifted, the subject of diplomatic talks underway in Vienna.
“The cameras are under seal of the agency but I can not see the images”, summarized Rafael Grossi. This interim compromise may “work for a while,” but “not for years,” he warned.
Before reinstalling the cameras, the agency will “explain how it works to those responsible for security and justice,” the head of the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization (OIEA) Mohammad Eslami told Tehran.
Extremely suspicious, Iran is convinced that Karaj’s sabotage was made possible by hacking the information gathered by these surveillance devices.
An “absurd” hypothesis, insisted Mr. Grossi, who came to the press conference with one of these cameras to support his remarks.
They cannot “be tampered with” and once installed, they “have no means of transmission,” he said.