UN watchdog demands Iran provide information on nuclear stockpile
Iran slams US-backed IAEA resolution as âpolitically motivatedâ and warns it could complicate ceasefire talks. The governing board of the United Nations nuclear watchdog has
Iran slams US-backed IAEA resolution as âpolitically motivatedâ and warns it could complicate ceasefire talks. The governing board of the United Nations nuclear watchdog has passed a United States-backed resolution demanding Iran provide âcomplete informationâ on its enriched â uranium stocks and grant access to inspectors to verify them. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) resolution came on Wednesday, while the US and Iran exchanged strikes after Washington blamed Tehran for the downing of an Apache helicopter in the Strait of Hormuz. The strikes marked the most significant escalation since a ceasefire in April ended weeks of devastating US and Israeli attacks on Iran and retaliatory Iranian assaults across the Gulf region. Iran condemned the resolution and warned it could hinder efforts to end the war.
The resolution was submitted to the 35-member IAEA board by the US, the United Kingdom, France and Germany. It passed with 21 votes in favour, diplomats at the closed-door meeting told Reuters and AFP news agencies. Russia, China and Niger voted against it, while 10 abstained, they said. One country did not vote. The IAEA estimates that Iran had 440kg of uranium enriched to 60 percent, close to weapons grade, when Israel and the US launched their first attacks on the country in June last year. Three of Iranâs main nuclear sites in Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan were hit. Iran subsequently suspended cooperation with the IAEA, and inspectors have not seen the material since. The resolution said the IAEA has not been able to verify whether uranium has been diverted and that Iran should âprovide the Agency with complete information on nuclear material inventoriesâ.
It also called on Iran to grant the IAEA the access it needs to verify that âwithout delayâ. Iranâs ambassador to the UN in Vienna, Reza Najafi, rejected the resolution as âcounterproductiveâ, âpolitically motivatedâ and âlegally flawedâ. He warned of fallout on the already fraught talks with US negotiators over ending the war completely. âIt further complicates the volatile situation, volatile ceasefire and the unfinished negotiations between Iran and the US,â he told AFP, adding: âWe have warned about the consequences of such a wrongful act by the US and its supporters.â Earlier, Iranâs Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi described the resolution as an attempt to shift the blame for the US-Israeli attacks on Iranâs nuclear facilities back onto Tehran. âThis is a reversal of responsibility,â Gharibabadi wrote on X on Tuesday.
