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The United Kingdom, the US, Germany and France have reportedly submitted a motion to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to censure Iran over its refusal to cooperate with the IAEA, as talks continue to stall in Vienna on a return to the 2015 nuclear deal.
The resolution is believed to urge Iran to cooperate fully with the IAEA and is the first since June 2020 when a similar motion to censure Iran was adopted. The motion follows an IAEA report which said the UN watchdog was “extremely concerned” about Iran’s refusal to answer questions on undeclared nuclear facilities and material.
In a joint statement to the IAEA, Britain, France and Germany said: “We strongly urge Iran to stop escalating its nuclear programme and to urgently conclude (the) deal that is on the table”. They underlined that Iran’s “nuclear programme is now more advanced than at any point in the past” and that Iran’s accumulation of enriched nuclear material has “no credible civilian justification”.
A vote on the motion is likely to take place on Wednesday evening or Thursday. Condemning the move, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh told state media that the motion would have “a negative impact both on the general direction of our cooperation with the IAEA and on our negotiations”. Tehran has also reportedly turned off two IAEA surveillance cameras that monitored one of its atomic sites, in response to the motion of censure. These surveillance cameras are used to monitor the enrichment of uranium gas through piping at enrichment facilities and are a key component of IAEA oversight.
Russia, which is also a party to the negotiations in Vienna, has also rejected the motion, with the Russian ambassador the UN in Vienna tweeting: “Russia will not associate itself with such a resolution”.
