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Iran Referred to UN Security Council for Nuclear Non-Compliance
Confirmed
In Short: The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has approved a resolution reporting Iran to the UN Security Council for breaching its non-proliferation obligations.
Al Jazeera reports that the IAEA Board of Governors has approved a resolution referring Iran to the UN Security Council for its continued non-compliance with nuclear non-proliferation obligations. The bloc stated, 'It is critical and urgent that Iran provides the IAEA with updated verifiable declarations about the quantity and whereabouts of nuclear material and related activities and allows inspections to resume in all its nuclear facilities.
The move marks an escalation in the ongoing diplomatic standoff between Iran and Western nations. However, it is unlikely the UN Security Council will take any action, as Iran’s allies Russia and China are veto-holding members. The United States and European allies, including France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, had lobbied the UN nuclear watchdog’s board members in recent days to pass the resolution.
Iran’s mission to the UN denounced the resolution, and earlier on Monday, Iran warned that it would retaliate if the resolution passed. In a statement, the European Union accused Iran of suspending its cooperation with the IAEA and refusing to allow the agency to inspect its nuclear facilities. Iran’s deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi wrote on X, 'They attack Iran's safeguarded nuclear facilities, disrupt the normal process of verification, and then use that very disruption as a pretext to issue a resolution.
Background
The United Nations Security Council is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations, and is the United Nations' executive branch, having primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security. Its powers, outlined in the UN Charter, include establishing peacekeeping operations, authorizing military action, and imposing international sanctions.
What's still developing
- The text noted “with grave concern… Iran’s continued non-compliance with its obligations” and “reiterates its call upon Iran to urgently remedy its non-compliance”.
- Iran, as a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), is forbidden from producing nuclear weapons and has repeatedly said it is not manufacturing them.
- Since the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran in June last year, IAEA staff have not been allowed to continue inspecting Iran’s three nuclear facilities, which were reportedly badly damaged or destroyed in the strikes.
- “The agency’s lack of information about these facilities and associated nuclear material and our inability to conduct verification activities at these facilities is a matter of serious proliferation concern,” he said.
- A Vantor satellite image shows tunnel construction activity and road infrastructure near the Natanz nuclear facility in Iran.
- The US, Israel and a number of European countries have questioned this claim, amid concerns that Tehran is trying to build a nuclear weapon.