TEHRAN- More than two hundred Iranian lawmakers issued a joint statement on Sunday in reaction to the censure resolution on Iran adopted by the UN nuclear watchdog’s Board of Governors and denounced it.

“Unfortunately, the IAEA director-general personally and the secretariat of the International Atomic Energy Agency have openly lost their credibility,” the statement, signed by 260 lawmakers, said. 

The statement added, “Mr. Grossi's visit to the Occupied Palestinian Territories and his meeting with the leaders of a regime that refuses to accept the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and does not deny various reports on the illegal acquisition of nuclear weapons are the most obvious signs of Grossi's biased behavior and call into question his commitment to fulfilling his organization’s missions on the path to nuclear disarmament.”

The Iranian lawmakers noted, “In this context, contrary to the rules and procedures of the IAEA, the allegation by the Zionist intelligence service is the basis of the secretariat's requests for access in Iran, which is a clear indication of the political and non-technical nature of the IAEA request on the remaining issues and the three alleged sites.”

“Given the continuation of the political process in the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Islamic Consultative Assembly (Parliament) supports the actions of the esteemed government and the Atomic Energy Organization of our country to reduce cooperation with the IAEA, including the cessation of non-safeguards surveillance cameras,” they said, according to the state news agency IRNA. 

The statement comes amid heightened tensions between Iran and the IAEA in the wake of the resolution of the Board of Governors. On Wednesday, the board adopted a resolution on what it called Iran's insufficient cooperation with the international organization, claiming that Tehran had not provided sufficient explanations regarding the finding of traces of nuclear materials at three undeclared sites. Iran strongly rejected it.
In response, Iran announced the disconnection of the IAEA’s surveillance cameras installed at Iran's nuclear facilities, stressing that these cameras are not part of Tehran's commitment to the Safeguards agreement recently signed with the Agency.

Iran said the shutdown of IAEA cameras is the first step and if the West continues its nonconstructive measures, it will take other retaliatory measures.

Iran first turned off nearly 20% of IAEA surveillance cameras that operated beyond the Safeguards agreement between Tehran and the UN nuclear watchdog. Then it announced the start of installing more advanced centrifuges.

Iranian officials also said that Tehran could take further measures in response to the resolution.