Britain, France, Germany and the United States, which proposed the resolution, rejected as insufficient and insincere Iran’s promise not to increase its stockpile of enriched uranium to 60 percent, which is only a step away from the 90 percent needed to produce a nuclear weapon. According to diplomats, Iran made this commitment conditional on the withdrawal of the resolution.
Iran usually rejects such resolutions. Already on Wednesday, before adopting another one, he warned and told Western countries that the approval of another text against Iran would “only complicate things”. “The head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization ordered the adoption of effective measures, including the commissioning of a number of new advanced centrifuges of various types,” the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Friday, according to AFP.
Russia, China and Burkina Faso voted against the adoption of the resolution, said diplomats who attended the meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors. Twelve countries abstained from voting and one did not participate.
Western countries have long suspected Iran of intending to produce a nuclear weapon, which Tehran denies. At the same time, however, according to the IAEA, he is not cooperating as he should, and it is not so clear whether he has published all information about his nuclear program. In addition, last September, Iran banned a number of leading IAEA experts on uranium enrichment from working in the country.
The text of the resolution, seen by Reuters, repeats wording from the November 2022 resolution that it is “necessary and urgent” for Iran to explain traces of uranium in undeclared facilities and allow the IAEA to take samples if necessary. The resolution from June this year made the same demands.
The new text literally asks the agency to issue a “comprehensive and updated assessment of the possible presence or use of undeclared nuclear material in relation to past and current outstanding issues related to Iran’s nuclear program, including a full description of Iran’s cooperation with the IAEA on these issues” by spring. Western countries generally hope that this news will prompt Iran to resume negotiations on limiting its nuclear activities, writes Reuters.
In 2015, Iran signed an agreement with the US, EU, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China in which it agreed to IAEA inspections of its nuclear facilities. The convention was supposed to slow down Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of anti-Iranian sanctions. However, the US unilaterally withdrew from the agreement under the administration of Donald Trump in 2018 and renewed sanctions against Iran. He then began to violate the agreement, while he began enriching uranium to 60 percent purity and limited IAEA inspections. With Trump returning to the White House in January and with Iran already enriching uranium well above the original deal, it is far from clear whether Trump will support negotiations to set new limits on Tehran, Reuters noted.
Last week, the head of the IAEA, Rafael Grossi, visited Iran in an attempt to convince the new president Masúd Pezeškján, considered a relatively moderate reformist, that Tehran fully cooperate with the agency again.
