Iran Risks "Deepening" Nuclear Crisis Says Antony Blinken as Tehran Removes IAEA Cameras

Hours after the Iranian government began to remove surveillance cameras operated by the International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA, at nuclear facilities in Tehran, Natanz and elsewhere, the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement that reviving the nuclear deal depended on Iran abandoning any extraneous demands in the negotiations.

Blinken added that Iran’s actions threatened the revival of the nuclear deal between Iran and the P5+1 western powers and would cause a “deepening” the crisis. The country could also experience “further economic and political isolation” as a result of its actions, he said.

Iran’s removal of the IAEA equipment prompted the IAEA Board of Governors to pass a resolution, on 9 June, condemning Iran’s actions.

Blinken’s remarks referred specifically to a demand by the Islamic Republic to remove the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp from the US’s list of terrorist organizations. Iran had also demanded a US guarantee that it not again withdraw from the agreement in the future.

Iran’s President Ibrahim Raisi, meanwhile, reacting to the IAEA’s resolution during a visit to Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province, said that Iran would “not back down” from its stance.