(Bloomberg) --

Iran moved to further restrict the information that international nuclear monitors can access as diplomats prepare to formally censure the nation for failing to cooperate with investigators. 

Authorities in Iran are disabling cameras connected to the Online Enrichment Monitoring system, according to the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency. The International Atomic Energy Agency says the cameras were installed at the Natanz enrichment plant and form part of Iran’s 2015 agreement with world powers.

The so-called OLEM technology was developed by US laboratories and the IAEA in order to help account for Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium.

The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran announced the move on Wednesday in response to the IAEA “taking Iran’s cooperation for granted,” according to the IRNA report. An IAEA spokesman didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment. 

The IAEA’s 35-member board of governors is convening this week in Vienna. A draft resolution of censure circulated by diplomats criticizes Iran for “systematic insufficient cooperation” with IAEA monitors, calling for it to step up assistance to their investigation into uranium traces detected at undeclared sites.

Iran Warned Issues With IAEA Monitors ‘Will Not Go Away’ 

Disabling the cameras is a largely symbolic move ahead of the impending debate over the resolution. Iran had already ceased providing agency monitors with data from the machines a year ago, as part of its gradual retraction of inspection powers granted under the 2015 agreement. 

That accord granted Tehran sanctions relief in exchange for limiting its atomic activities but has all but collapsed since the Trump administration withdrew in 2018 and Iran in retaliation began rapidly expanding its enrichment work. 

Negotiations to reboot the deal accord stalled in March. Since then, probabilities of agreement have diminished and rancor between Iran and western nations has increased. 

“We are deeply concerned about the continued nuclear advance,” France, Germany and the UK said late Tuesday in a joint statement. “They risk unraveling the deal that we have so carefully crafted together.”

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