Western nations are planning to table a resolution at a meeting of the U.N.’s nuclear agency that will find Iran in non-compliance with its so-called safeguards obligations for the first time in 20 years, a senior western diplomat said Thursday.
The move comes at a sensitive time as U.S. President Donald Trump's administration seeks to reach a deal with Tehran to limit its nuclear program. The two sides have held several rounds of talks, so far without agreement.
The draft resolution will be jointly tabled by France, the U.K. and Germany, known as the E3, together with the United States, the senior Western diplomat said.
Consulting European allies
In Washington, the State Department said the Trump administration was consulting with European allies about the next step.
“We are coordinating with our partners on our posture for the June 9-13 IAEA Board of Governors meeting and are considering all of our options,” the department said. “We continue to have serious concerns about Iran’s nuclear program and its longstanding failure to uphold its safeguards obligations.”
In an April 2024 report, the U.S. State Department assessed that Iran's “unwillingness to provide adequate responses to the IAEA’s questions regarding potential undeclared nuclear material and activities" constitutes "a violation of its obligation to accept safeguards under Article III of the NPT Treaty."
The draft resolution, which was seen by The Associated Press, says: “Iran’s many failures to uphold its obligations since 2019 to provide the Agency with full and timely cooperation regarding undeclared nuclear material and activities at multiple undeclared locations in Iran ... constitutes non-compliance with its obligations under its Safeguards Agreement.”
The draft resolution furthermore finds that the IAEA's “inability ... to provide assurance that Iran’s nuclear programme is exclusively peaceful gives rise to questions that are within the competence of the United Nations Security Council, as the organ bearing the main responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security.”
It requests IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi “to continue his efforts to implement this and previous resolutions and to report again, including any further developments on the issues."
Board members could suggest amendments
The text of the draft may change before it is formally tabled, as board members have the opportunity to suggest amendments.
Under the so-called safeguards obligations, that are part of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Iran is legally bound to declare all nuclear material and activities and allow IAEA inspectors to verify that none of it is being diverted from peaceful uses.
In the IAEA’s “comprehensive report” that was circulated among members states last weekend, the U.N. nuclear watchdog said that Iran’s cooperation with the agency has “been less than satisfactory” when it comes to uranium traces discovered by agency inspectors at several locations in Iran that Tehran has failed to declare as nuclear sites.
The IAEA has been seeking answers from Iran regarding the origin and current location of the nuclear material since 2019.
Western officials suspect that the uranium traces discovered by the IAEA could provide evidence that Iran had a secret nuclear weapons program until 2003.
Iran denies having nuclear weapons program
Iran denies ever having had a nuclear weapons program and says its program is entirely peaceful.
The senior Western diplomat called the resolution a “serious step,” but added that western nations are “not closing the door to diplomacy on this issue.”
“The objective of the resolution is for Iran to resolve the issue,” the source added, which is why the resolution will not immediately refer Iran’s non-compliance to the U.N. Security Council to consider triggering more sanctions. “They will have a window to finally comply and respond to all the requests that have been made over the last six years.”
The board of governors “stresses its support for a diplomatic solution to the problems posed by the Iranian nuclear programme, leading to an agreement that addresses all international concerns related to Iran’s nuclear activities, encouraging all parties to constructively engage in diplomacy,” the draft resolution reads.
However, if Iran fails to cooperate, an extraordinary IAEA board meeting will likely be held in the summer, during which another resolution could get passed that will refer the issue to the Security Council, the senior diplomat said.
The three European nations have threatened in the past to reinstate sanctions that have been lifted under the original 2015 Iran nuclear deal, which expires on Oct. 18.
Iran has previously retaliated to resolutions passed by the agency's board by further expanding its nuclear program and banning inspectors.
Iranian deputy foreign minister Kazem Gharibabadi warned the IAEA against taking any “politically-motivated action” by some board members, as this could undermine cooperation between Iran and the UN nuclear watchdog, he wrote in a post on X.
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The Associated Press receives support for nuclear security coverage from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and Outrider Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
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Additional AP coverage of the nuclear landscape: https://apnews.com/projects/the-new-nuclear-landscape/
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