Iran has switched off two United Nations’ nuclear watchdog surveillance cameras stationed at one of its atomic sites. 

On Wednesday state television reported that cameras monitoring “OLEM enrichment levels and flowmeters” had been turned off ahead of Western nations moving to censure Iran at a meeting this week of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

A nuclear deal was reached by Iran and the West in 2015, stipulating that Tehran limit its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the removal of economic sanctions.

In 2018, former U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew America from the nuclear deal accord, raising tensions across the wider Middle East and sparking a series of attacks and incidents.

Since then, Iran has broken every limit imposed by the deal and now enriches uranium up to 60 per cent purity, exceeding the 2015 nuclear deal’s 3.67 per cent cap on enriched uranium. 

On Tuesday, the United States blamed Iran for failing to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, saying Iran’s demands on sanctions-lifting were preventing progress. 

“What we need is a willing partner in Iran. In particular, Iran would need to drop demands for sanctions lifting that clearly go beyond the JCPOA and that are now preventing us from concluding a deal,” the statement to the UN nuclear watchdog’s board of governors said.

In April, the head of Iran’s civilian Atomic Energy Organization, Mohammad Eslami, announced that the country will move forward with plans to build a new nuclear power plant.

The 360-megawatt capacity plant is slated for construction in the southwestern Khuzestan province. So far, Iran’s only nuclear power plant has a 1,000-megawatt capacity.