The resolution tabled by the US and E3 (Britain, France, Germany) is the first to reprimand Iran in the IAEA, part of the UN system, since June 2020.
As expected, the tone is sharpened on the issue of Iran’s nuclear program: the US and the Europeans managed to adopt last Wednesday night by the Board of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) a resolution that formally recalls Tehran, with the background the stalemate in the negotiations to overcome the international agreement of 2015.
In response, the Islamic Republic had earlier disconnected surveillance cameras installed by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Washington has warned that the decision risks “further complicating” talks in Vienna, which have been suspended since March.
The resolution tabled by the US and E3 (Britain, France, Germany) is the first to reprimand Iran in the IAEA, part of the UN system, since June 2020.
In a joint statement, the four countries “welcomed” the result of the vote and demanded that Iran “comply with its legal obligations.”
The decision was approved by 30 members of the IAEA Board, which is meeting in Vienna; only Russia and China voted against, according to two diplomats who spoke to AFP. Three countries were away (India, Libya, Pakistan).
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett intervened, dismissing the “major decision that reveals the true face of Iran,” seeing it as a “warning message.”
The text calls on Iran to “fully cooperate” with the IAEA, which in a recent report denounced the lack of “technically reliable” answers to traces of enriched uranium found at three undeclared facilities.
The decision, symbolic at this stage, could be the prelude to the transfer of the dispute to the UN Security Council, which is responsible for imposing sanctions.
“Sad” and “counterproductive” move
“Iran has no covert nuclear activities or undeclared facilities,” said Mohammad Eslami, head of the Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). »Decision.
Before the vote took place, Iran yesterday disconnected “several cameras” in the country’s “nuclear facilities”, according to a IAEA press release.
“Today, the authorities have been instructed to shut down the real-time uranium enrichment (OLEM) surveillance system and the service flow meter cameras,” he said.
The Iranian agency, however, pointed out that “more than 80% of the existing cameras of the Agency operate, as stipulated in the surveillance agreement (…), as before.”
A spokesman for Behrouz Kamalvandi, who went to the scene to confirm the closure, warned that “other measures are planned”.
This move is “extremely sad” and “counterproductive”, was the reaction of a representative of the American diplomacy when asked about this by the French Agency. “Iran’s response should be to cooperate fully with the IAEA,” not to further develop its nuclear activities and reduce transparency. “
Since January 2016, UN inspectors have been verifying and monitoring the implementation of the commitments made by Iran under the agreement it signed last year in Vienna with the major powers, formally the Joint Integrated Action Plan (JAP).
“Maximum pressure”
The agreement offered relief to the Islamic Republic in exchange for restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program.
However, Washington withdrew from the agreement in 2018, during the presidency of Donald Trump, which characterized the CSD as insufficient, and unilaterally reinstated US financial sanctions against Iran, forcing it to start violating its commitments.
As incumbent President Joe Biden said he favored a US return to the CSD, negotiations began in April 2021 in Vienna between the E3, Russia and China to achieve this, but they seem increasingly doomed to failure. The US is involved in the process closely.
During the dialogue on the Governing Council, London, Paris and Berlin complained that the nuclear program was “more advanced than ever” and spoke of activities without “credible justification” if the program was for peaceful purposes only.
According to the latest IAEA estimates, Iran will soon have at its disposal a sufficient amount of 60% enriched uranium to acquire at least one nuclear weapon.
And Tehran – although it denies ever intending to acquire nuclear weapons – has informed the agency of its intention to further expand its uranium enrichment capabilities at the Natanz facility (centrally), according to figures presented to the board on Wednesday.
