Key Takeaways
- The US and its allies are urging the UN nuclear watchdog to report Iran to the UN Security Council.
- This move follows Iran's failure to cooperate with an investigation into uranium traces at undeclared sites.
- A draft resolution is being negotiated, with negotiations ongoing until the board meeting next week.
The United States and its allies, including Britain, France, and Germany, are pressuring other countries on the UN nuclear watchdog’s board to pass a resolution next week, reporting Iran to the UN Security Council for the first time in 20 years, according to diplomats.
The resolution would follow up on one adopted on June 12 of last year, which declared Iran in breach of its non-proliferation obligations for not fully cooperating with an investigation into uranium traces found at undeclared sites.
Israel began bombing Iran’s nuclear facilities the day after the resolution was adopted, with the United States soon joining in, destroying or severely damaging Iran’s uranium-enrichment plants.
Since then, Iran has not allowed International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors to return to the bombed sites or verify the remaining stocks of enriched uranium, some of which was enriched to up to 60% purity, a short step from weapons grade.
A resolution by the IAEA’s 35-nation board reporting Iran to the Security Council would also be the culmination of a long-standing standoff over IAEA access to those sites, as the board has passed two resolutions in the past year demanding Iran declare its enriched uranium stocks and grant the IAEA full access to verify them.
A draft text for the resolution has yet to be formally submitted to the board, and negotiations over the exact wording are ongoing.
As a party to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), Iran has the right to develop nuclear technology, including enrichment, for peaceful purposes. Iran maintains that it would never produce nuclear weapons.
However, the IAEA believes that well over 200 kg of highly enriched uranium, enriched to 60% purity, has survived the bombardments and is held in a tunnel complex at Isfahan and the Natanz facility.
