The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nations nuclear watchdog, on Thursday found that Iran had breached its non-proliferation obligations. It is the first time in almost two decades that the IAEA has taken that stance. The last time the IAEA adopted that position was in September 2005, when clandestine nuclear activities in Iran were discovered.
The IAEA’s declaration means that the report will more likely be considered by the U.N. Security Council. The resolution declaring Iran in violation, which was submitted by the United States, Britain, France, and Germany, was approved by 19 countries with 11 abstentions. Only Russia, China, and Burkina Faso voted against the resolution, according to Reuters.
“The Board of Governors… finds that 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 with the Agency,” the resolution stated.
“A central issue is Iran’s failure to provide the IAEA with credible explanations of how uranium traces detected at undeclared sites in Iran came to be there despite the agency having investigated the issue for years,” Reuters added. In February, Reuters noted, “The stock of uranium refined to up to 60% in the form of uranium hexafluoride grew by 92.5 kg in the past quarter to 274.8 kg, one of two confidential IAEA reports said. That is enough in principle, if enriched further, for six nuclear bombs, according to an IAEA yardstick.”
On June 2, President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social, “The AUTOPEN should have stopped Iran a long time ago from ‘enriching.’ Under our potential Agreement — WE WILL NOT ALLOW ANY ENRICHMENT OF URANIUM!”
On June 4, in a televised speech, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei taunted the United States and the Trump administration over its demand that Iran stop enriching uranium, declaring, “The first word of the U.S. is that Iran should not have a nuclear industry and should rely on the United States. Our response to the U.S. nonsense is clear: they cannot do a damn thing in this matter.”
“The rude and arrogant leaders of America repeatedly demand that we should not have a nuclear program. Who are you to decide whether Iran should have an enrichment?” Khamenei jeered. “Why are you interfering? Whether Iran enriches uranium or not — what does it have to do with you? Who are you?”