The Biden administration on Tuesday seemed closer than ever to backing a European resolution against Iran at the IAEA board meeting, after Iran showed no signs of cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog.
Last week, the IAEA chief, Rafael Grossi, said the watchdog had lost track of Iran’s production and inventory of centrifuges and related components, as Tehran has limited access to the inspectors.
On Tuesday, the US delivered a strongly-worded statement to the IAEA, effectively opening the door to a censuring resolution at the upcoming quarterly IAEA Board of Governors meeting.
“Iran refused a deal when it was possible, continued with activities that negated the chance for that deal,” US ambassador to the IAEA Laura S.H. Holgate said Tuesday. “The idea that the remaining issues could be resolved within a few days, when Iran’s nuclear program has, and continues to, significantly expand... and when Iran’s cooperation with the Agency has reached new lows, is absurd.”
This was perhaps the clearest indication to date that the Biden administration may have lost patience with the “tired and transparent gambit” of the Iranian rulers. And a few hours later, came another indication –this time from the State Department spokesman, Matthew Miller.
“Should there be a resolution,” he told reporters who asked about the US position, “you should not expect us to act in any sort of disharmony with our E3 partners. We prize our unity with them, and I expect that to continue.”
In the past few weeks, unofficial reports have pointed to a US-E3 disagreement, with the Biden administration trying to dissuade France, Germany, and the UK from censuring Iran at the IAEA’s board meeting, fearing, perhaps, that it could lead to more hostility and further complicate the relationship with those in power in Tehran, as well as the situation in the broader Middle East.
The statements on Tuesday, however, put to rest the notion of a US-E3 disagreement, suggesting instead that a censuring resolution may be imminent.
Earlier Tuesday, the E3 said in a joint statement that Iran has chosen to escalate and to expand its nuclear program to alarming levels, calling on the Islamic Republic to halt its escalation. “Much of Iran’s nuclear program is unprecedented for a state without a nuclear weapons program," they warned.
This was echoed by the US ambassador shortly after, referring to Iran’s growing stockpile of near-weapons-grade uranium. “There is no credible, civilian justification for Iran to amass a stock of highly enriched uranium and these actions run counter to the behavior of all other non-nuclear weapons states party to the NPT,” said Ambassador Holgate.
“Twice in 2022 viable deals were put on the table after great political effort,” she added. “On both occasions, Iran responded to these deals with unacceptable demands beyond the scope of the JCPOA.”
Iran limited its cooperation with the IAEA and expanded its enrichment program after President Trump unilaterally withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal. President Biden set it as a priority ‘from day one’ to revive that deal or craft a new agreement. The plan was to dull the nuclear ambitions of the Islamic Republic, but it only sharpened the criticism of the Biden administration –from the Republicans in the Congress, in particular.
“Iran is closer than ever to having nuclear weapons,” Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) posted on X Tuesday, “that's why @SenatorTimScott and I have introduced a resolution calling on the Biden Administration to censure Iran at this week's IAEA meeting.”
Iran Rejects Latest IAEA Report, Branding It 'Unreliable'
Iran, meanwhile, has dismissed a recent IAEA report regarding its nuclear activities as "unreliable."
In that report to the IAEA Board of Governors, Director General Grossi stated that there has been no progress in resolving the safeguards issues with Iran.
In a statement it labeled the latest report as "based on unreliable information and unauthentic documents," dismissing allegations of an undeclared site in Turquzabad as a mere "industrial scraps storage."
The tension over undisclosed locations began with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's remarks during his speech at the United Nations General Assembly in September 2018.
Netanyahu pointed to the location in Turquzabad, southwest of Tehran, saying that Iran has a secret warehouse for nuclear materials and equipment in this area, holding up to 300 tons of nuclear equipment and material. Iranian officials dismissed Netanyahu's claims, stating that the location mentioned is just a simple “rug cleaning” business.
The Iranian officials refuted any involvement in nuclear activities at the site, despite previous reports of nuclear materials being moved with containers from the location.
Grossi claimed in his recent report to the Board of Governors that no progress has been made in resolving non-compliance issues with Iran and criticized Iran for failing to provide “technically credible explanations for the presence of uranium particles of anthropogenic origin” in Turquzabad and a second site in Varamin.
The IAEA's repeated requests for explanations about the presence of uranium particles at the two sites have gone unanswered for years.
