The United Nations nuclear watchdog’s board censured Iran on Wednesday for failing to fully cooperate with the agency, officials said, urging Tehran to offer answers in a long-running inquiry and reverse its decision to ban numerous experienced U.N. inspectors.
The development comes just over a week after the International Atomic Energy Agency reported that Iran has expanded its stockpile of uranium enriched to near-weapons-grade levels, the latest in Tehran’s efforts to maintain pressure on the international community.
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The vote by the 35-member board at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna sets the ground for a potential escalation of tensions between the agency and Iran, which has previously responded angrily to similar resolutions.
According to diplomats, twenty members voted in favor of the motion, Russia and China voted against it, 12 abstained, and one did not vote. They spoke anonymously to reveal the outcome of the closed-door vote. France, Germany, and the United Kingdom proposed the resolution.
Censure resolutions of the IAEA board are not legally binding, but they convey a powerful political and diplomatic statement.
The Associated Press viewed a draft of the resolution, which urged Tehran to implement a joint agreement between Iran and the IAEA by March 2023. In that statement, Iran promised to fix issues around sites where inspectors have concerns about possible undeclared nuclear activity and to allow the IAEA to “implement further appropriate verification and monitoring activities.”
Inspectors reported that two sites near Tehran contained evidence of processed uranium. The IAEA has encouraged Iran to provide “technically credible” explanations concerning the origin and current placement of nuclear material in order “to be in a position to provide assurance that Iran’s nuclear program is exclusively peaceful.”
While the number of sites for which the IAEA has questions has decreased from four to two since 2019, the lingering questions have remained a source of stress.
The IAEA identified the sites as Turquzabad and Varamin. According to the IAEA, inspectors believe Iran exploited the Varamin plant as a trial project to process uranium ore and convert it into gas between 1999 and 2003. The IAEA reported that they dismantled the buildings at the site in 2004.
Tehran claims its program is peaceful, but the West and the IAEA say Iran had a structured military nuclear program until 2003.
Turquzabad is where the IAEA believes Iran took some of the Varamin material during the destruction, but this alone cannot “explain the presence of the multiple types of isotopically altered particles” discovered there.
In an apparent attempt to put pressure on Tehran, the resolution approved Wednesday states that IAEA Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi may need to prepare a “comprehensive and updated assessment” on unresolved issues surrounding Iran’s nuclear program if Iran continues to fail to provide the “necessary, full, and unambiguous cooperation” to resolve the outstanding questions.
The IAEA board last censured Iran in November 2022. Iran replied by starting to enrich uranium to 60% purity at its Fordo nuclear facility. Uranium enriched to 60% purity is only a short technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%.
In June 2022, Iran responded to a previous resolution by removing IAEA cameras and monitoring equipment from its nuclear facilities.
In September, Iran blocked numerous experienced United Nations inspectors from monitoring the country’s nuclear program. Grossi stated at the time that the judgment dealt “a very serious blow” to the agency’s ability to perform its duties “to the best possible level.”
Under a 2015 agreement with foreign powers, Tehran committed to limit uranium enrichment to levels required for nuclear power generation in exchange for the relaxation of economic sanctions. At the time, U.N. inspectors were in charge of supervising the program.
However, tensions between Iran and the IAEA have progressively increased since 2018, when then-President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the US from the nuclear deal. Since then, Iran has ignored all of the restrictions imposed by the agreement on its nuclear program and has rapidly increased enrichment.
