Diplomats interviewed by AFP cited “the urgency to react to the seriousness of the situation” because although Tehran denies wanting to acquire the bomb, its program continues to gain momentum. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, it is the only country not equipped with atomic weapons to enrich uranium to the level of 60% and to accumulate ever-increasing stocks.
This threshold is close to the 90% needed to make a bomb and is well above the permitted ceiling of 3.67% – equivalent to what is used for electricity production. Despite this situation, which was still unthinkable until recently, the Board of Governors of the UN body, made up of 35 member countries, has not presented a resolution since November 2022.
During the last meeting in March, London, Paris and Berlin (E3) prepared a text before giving up for lack of support from Washington. If officially the United States denies slowing down the efforts of its European allies, they fear that such action would inflame current geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, especially in the run-up to the November presidential election.
“Essential and urgent”
A policy which is no longer tenable in view of the escalation, estimate the same diplomatic sources, adding that “the American position could evolve” between now and the vote scheduled for later in the week. Relations between Iran and the IAEA have deteriorated significantly and the UN body is now struggling to guarantee “the exclusively peaceful nature” of the nuclear program.
Its general director Rafael Grossi went there at the beginning of May to renew the dialogue, demanding “concrete results as quickly as possible”. But in the meantime, the death of President Ebrahim Raïssi put the discussions on hold.
A false pretext, according to two diplomats, for whom it is time to increase pressure on Iran. The resolution obtained by AFP addresses all the points of contention. First, the presence of unexplained traces of uranium on two undeclared sites. “It is essential and urgent” that Tehran provides “technically credible” reasons, insists the text. On this subject, “a full report” could be requested from Rafael Grossi.
Iran must also “reverse the withdrawal of accreditation” of some of its most experienced inspectors, and reconnect the surveillance cameras “without delay”. The document also notes “concerns” surrounding “recent public statements in Iran on the country’s technical capabilities to produce nuclear weapons, and possible changes to nuclear doctrine.”
“Get back in the game”
The Islamic Republic has gradually freed itself from the commitments made within the framework of the 2015 international agreement concluded with the United States, China, Russia, France, Germany and the United Kingdom. This pact known by the acronym JCPOA was supposed to regulate its atomic activities in exchange for a lifting of international sanctions.
But it was shattered after the American withdrawal decided in 2018 by then-president Donald Trump. Discussions held in Vienna to revive it failed in the summer of 2022. Through this initiative, the Europeans “show that they are getting back in the game” and “are not fooled” by Iranian intentions, comments to AFP Héloïse Fayet, researcher at the Center for Security Studies at the French Institute of International Relations (Ifri).
The United States prefers “not to add fuel to the fire”, at a time when the Middle East is shaken by the war in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Palestinian Hamas, an ally of the Islamic Republic. According to Héloïse Fayet, “it might have been preferable to wait until the Iranian political system was stabilized”, with the election of a new president on June 28.
For Russia, which has moved significantly closer to Iran over the last two years, this “anti-Iranian resolution (…) can only aggravate the situation”, its ambassador to international organizations warned on Sunday on X in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov.