UN Nuclear Watchdog Urges Iran To Cooperate, Reverse Ban on Inspectors
The United Nations nuclear watchdog’s 35-nation Board of Governors passed a resolution on Wednesday urging Iran to enhance its cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and reverse its recent expulsion of inspectors. Concerns remain that Tehran might escalate its atomic activities in response.
The resolution saw 20 countries in favor, two against—Russia and China—and 12 abstentions. This follows a similar resolution 18 months ago, which demanded Iran comply with a long-running IAEA investigation into uranium traces found at undeclared sites.
Despite narrowing the number of sites under investigation from three to two, Iran has not provided the IAEA with satisfactory explanations for the traces. “Iran must urgently, fully, and unambiguously cooperate with the agency,” stated Britain, France, and Germany in a joint statement to the board.
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Since the last resolution, issues have compounded for the IAEA in Iran. The new resolution addresses these problems and calls for Iran to reverse its ban on many of the IAEA’s top enrichment experts. IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi criticized Iran’s actions as “disproportionate and unprecedented.”
The resolution also urges Iran to implement the March 2023 joint statement that the IAEA interpreted as a comprehensive pledge for cooperation, including monitoring and installing surveillance cameras.
Iran, now enriching uranium up to 60% purity, has enough material to produce three nuclear weapons if further enriched, according to the IAEA. Western powers argue there is no civilian justification for this. Iran maintains its nuclear program is peaceful but has hinted it could alter its “nuclear doctrine” if threatened by Israel.
Before supporting the resolution the US told the Board of Governors, “Iran, a country with a past nuclear weapons program and whose enrichment program started in secret, is amassing a growing stockpile of highly enriched uranium, and now boasts of being on the precipice of nuclear weapons capability.”
