US preparing draft resolution condemning Iran at IAEA, diplomats say

Much of Iran’s highly enriched uranium is thought to have survived previous rounds of strikes.

By Reuters and The Algemeiner

The United States is preparing a draft resolution condemning Iran ahead of this week’s meeting of the UN nuclear watchdog’s Board of Governors, diplomats said, a step that could complicate wider talks between the US and Iran.

Washington and Tehran are negotiating an extension of their ceasefire that would pave the way for talks on issues including Iran‘s nuclear program, with US President Donald Trump insisting Iran must never develop a nuclear weapon.

Iran says it never would.

Israeli and US military strikes last June destroyed or badly damaged the three uranium-enrichment plants known to have been operating in Iran at the time.

Much of its highly enriched uranium, however, is thought to have survived, though the UN nuclear watchdog has not had access to check.

With a quarterly meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s 35-nation board taking place this week, Washington is preparing a text, though it has yet to circulate it and details are therefore unclear, diplomats accredited to the IAEA said.

Iran has bristled at previous resolutions the board has passed against it, often retaliating by escalating its nuclear activities or scaling back cooperation with the agency.

A more imminent concern this time is the talks with the US.

“I believe it may antagonize the Iranian side,” Russia’s ambassador to the IAEA, Mikhail Ulyanov, told reporters.

Russia and China are the two countries that have opposed all recent resolutions against Iran at the IAEA board, which were submitted jointly by the United States, Britain, France, and Germany and have passed by a clear margin.

“As far as I know, they are going to call upon Iran to provide access to the agency’s personnel to nuclear facilities on the territory of Iran,” said Ulyanov, while adding he did not believe the US would actually submit the draft.

The US mission to the IAEA declined to comment.

The last time the IAEA passed a resolution against Iran was in November, to say Iran must inform the IAEA “without delay” of the status of its enriched uranium stock and bombed atomic sites, which it has yet to do.

A resolution in June found Iran in breach of its non-proliferation obligations for the first time in almost 20 years, raising the prospect of reporting Tehran to the UN Security Council, but the board has yet to take that extra step.