Iran to face censure amid stalled nuclear talks
By Agence France-Presse
last updated: Jun 07,2022
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VIENNA —
Major European countries and the US are expected to seek to censure Iran as the
UN atomic watchdog started meeting on Monday with talks to revive the 2015
nuclear deal stalled.
The resolution
drafted by the US, Britain, France and Germany is a sign of their growing
impatience as diplomats warn the window to save the landmark agreement is
closing.
The International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) Board of Governors meets Monday through Friday in
Vienna.
If the resolution
urging Iran to “cooperate fully” with the IAEA is adopted, it will be the first
motion censuring Iran since June 2020.
Talks to revive the
accord started in April 2021 with the aim of bringing the US back into the
deal, lifting sanctions, and getting Iran to scale back its stepped-up nuclear
program.
The 2015 landmark
deal — promising Tehran sanctions relief in exchange for curbs in its nuclear
program — started to fall apart in 2018 when the then US president Donald Trump
withdrew from it.
Talks to revive the
agreement have stalled in recent months.
The coordinator of
the talks, the EU’s top diplomat Josep Borrell, warned in a tweet this weekend
that the possibility of returning to the accord was “shrinking”.
‘Ready to re-engage’
In a report late last month, the IAEA said it still had questions that
were “not clarified” regarding traces of enriched uranium previously found at
three sites, which Iran had not declared as having hosted nuclear activities.
“The agency remains
ready to re-engage without delay with Iran to resolve these matters,” IAEA head
Rafael Grossi said in his opening statement to the board.
“I hope that as a
result of the deliberations of the board this week, we will come out of this
with a sense of commitment to solve these things once and for all — because as
I said, this is not going to disappear,” he told reporters later Monday.
Iran will reject
the resolution, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh told state
TV.
“Not only do we not
view the resolution as constructive, but we believe it will have a negative
impact both on the general direction of our cooperation with the IAEA and on
our negotiations,” he said.
Kelsey Davenport,
an expert with the Arms Control Association, told AFP a resolution was
“necessary to send a message that there are consequences for stonewalling the
agency and failing to meet safeguards obligations”.
“There is no excuse
for Iran’s continued failure to provide meaningful cooperation with the
agency’s investigation,” she said.
China and Russia —
who with Britain, France and Germany are parties to the Iran nuclear deal —
have warned that any resolution could disrupt the negotiation process.
In shadow of Ukraine
Despite the tensions, negotiations are unlikely to fall apart, said
Clement Therme, associate researcher at the Rasanah International Institute for
Iranian Studies.
“Given the war in
Ukraine, the Europeans are not ready to trigger a new crisis with Iran when
they are already dealing with a crisis with Russia” which invaded its neighbor
in February, he said.
The resolution
would be worded “in a way that does not close the door to further
negotiations”, said Therme.
A key sticking
point of the negotiations is Tehran’s demand for Washington to remove the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the ideological arm of Iran’s military, from
the official US list of terror groups.
US President Joe
Biden’s administration has refused to do so ahead of tough November midterm
elections.
According to the
latest IAEA report, the Islamic republic now has 43.1kg of 60-percent-enriched
uranium.
“Weaponizing would
still take one to two years, but that process would be more difficult to detect
and disrupt once Iran moved the weapons-grade uranium from its declared
enrichment facilities,” Davenport said.
Iran has always
denied wanting to develop a nuclear weapon.
Grossi told
reporters on Monday that it would be “a matter of just a few weeks” before Iran
could get enough material needed for a nuclear weapon if they continued to
develop their program.
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VIENNA —
Major European countries and the US are expected to seek to censure Iran as the
UN atomic watchdog started meeting on Monday with talks to revive the 2015
nuclear deal stalled.
The resolution drafted by the US, Britain, France and Germany is a sign of their growing impatience as diplomats warn the window to save the landmark agreement is closing.
The International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) Board of Governors meets Monday through Friday in Vienna.
If the resolution urging Iran to “cooperate fully” with the IAEA is adopted, it will be the first motion censuring Iran since June 2020.
Talks to revive the accord started in April 2021 with the aim of bringing the US back into the deal, lifting sanctions, and getting Iran to scale back its stepped-up nuclear program.
The 2015 landmark deal — promising Tehran sanctions relief in exchange for curbs in its nuclear program — started to fall apart in 2018 when the then US president Donald Trump withdrew from it.
Talks to revive the agreement have stalled in recent months.
The coordinator of the talks, the EU’s top diplomat Josep Borrell, warned in a tweet this weekend that the possibility of returning to the accord was “shrinking”.
‘Ready to re-engage’
In a report late last month, the IAEA said it still had questions that were “not clarified” regarding traces of enriched uranium previously found at three sites, which Iran had not declared as having hosted nuclear activities.
“The agency remains ready to re-engage without delay with Iran to resolve these matters,” IAEA head Rafael Grossi said in his opening statement to the board.
“I hope that as a result of the deliberations of the board this week, we will come out of this with a sense of commitment to solve these things once and for all — because as I said, this is not going to disappear,” he told reporters later Monday.
Iran will reject the resolution, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh told state TV.
“Not only do we not view the resolution as constructive, but we believe it will have a negative impact both on the general direction of our cooperation with the IAEA and on our negotiations,” he said.
Kelsey Davenport, an expert with the Arms Control Association, told AFP a resolution was “necessary to send a message that there are consequences for stonewalling the agency and failing to meet safeguards obligations”.
“There is no excuse for Iran’s continued failure to provide meaningful cooperation with the agency’s investigation,” she said.
China and Russia — who with Britain, France and Germany are parties to the Iran nuclear deal — have warned that any resolution could disrupt the negotiation process.
In shadow of Ukraine
Despite the tensions, negotiations are unlikely to fall apart, said Clement Therme, associate researcher at the Rasanah International Institute for Iranian Studies.
“Given the war in Ukraine, the Europeans are not ready to trigger a new crisis with Iran when they are already dealing with a crisis with Russia” which invaded its neighbor in February, he said.
The resolution would be worded “in a way that does not close the door to further negotiations”, said Therme.
A key sticking point of the negotiations is Tehran’s demand for Washington to remove the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the ideological arm of Iran’s military, from the official US list of terror groups.
US President Joe Biden’s administration has refused to do so ahead of tough November midterm elections.
According to the latest IAEA report, the Islamic republic now has 43.1kg of 60-percent-enriched uranium.
“Weaponizing would still take one to two years, but that process would be more difficult to detect and disrupt once Iran moved the weapons-grade uranium from its declared enrichment facilities,” Davenport said.
Iran has always denied wanting to develop a nuclear weapon.
Grossi told reporters on Monday that it would be “a matter of just a few weeks” before Iran could get enough material needed for a nuclear weapon if they continued to develop their program.
Read more Region and World
Jordan News
The resolution drafted by the US, Britain, France and Germany is a sign of their growing impatience as diplomats warn the window to save the landmark agreement is closing.
The International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) Board of Governors meets Monday through Friday in Vienna.
If the resolution urging Iran to “cooperate fully” with the IAEA is adopted, it will be the first motion censuring Iran since June 2020.
Talks to revive the accord started in April 2021 with the aim of bringing the US back into the deal, lifting sanctions, and getting Iran to scale back its stepped-up nuclear program.
The 2015 landmark deal — promising Tehran sanctions relief in exchange for curbs in its nuclear program — started to fall apart in 2018 when the then US president Donald Trump withdrew from it.
Talks to revive the agreement have stalled in recent months.
The coordinator of the talks, the EU’s top diplomat Josep Borrell, warned in a tweet this weekend that the possibility of returning to the accord was “shrinking”.
‘Ready to re-engage’
In a report late last month, the IAEA said it still had questions that were “not clarified” regarding traces of enriched uranium previously found at three sites, which Iran had not declared as having hosted nuclear activities.
“The agency remains ready to re-engage without delay with Iran to resolve these matters,” IAEA head Rafael Grossi said in his opening statement to the board.
“I hope that as a result of the deliberations of the board this week, we will come out of this with a sense of commitment to solve these things once and for all — because as I said, this is not going to disappear,” he told reporters later Monday.
Iran will reject the resolution, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh told state TV.
“Not only do we not view the resolution as constructive, but we believe it will have a negative impact both on the general direction of our cooperation with the IAEA and on our negotiations,” he said.
Kelsey Davenport, an expert with the Arms Control Association, told AFP a resolution was “necessary to send a message that there are consequences for stonewalling the agency and failing to meet safeguards obligations”.
“There is no excuse for Iran’s continued failure to provide meaningful cooperation with the agency’s investigation,” she said.
China and Russia — who with Britain, France and Germany are parties to the Iran nuclear deal — have warned that any resolution could disrupt the negotiation process.
In shadow of Ukraine
Despite the tensions, negotiations are unlikely to fall apart, said Clement Therme, associate researcher at the Rasanah International Institute for Iranian Studies.
“Given the war in Ukraine, the Europeans are not ready to trigger a new crisis with Iran when they are already dealing with a crisis with Russia” which invaded its neighbor in February, he said.
The resolution would be worded “in a way that does not close the door to further negotiations”, said Therme.
A key sticking point of the negotiations is Tehran’s demand for Washington to remove the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the ideological arm of Iran’s military, from the official US list of terror groups.
US President Joe Biden’s administration has refused to do so ahead of tough November midterm elections.
According to the latest IAEA report, the Islamic republic now has 43.1kg of 60-percent-enriched uranium.
“Weaponizing would still take one to two years, but that process would be more difficult to detect and disrupt once Iran moved the weapons-grade uranium from its declared enrichment facilities,” Davenport said.
Iran has always denied wanting to develop a nuclear weapon.
Grossi told reporters on Monday that it would be “a matter of just a few weeks” before Iran could get enough material needed for a nuclear weapon if they continued to develop their program.
Read more Region and World
Jordan News
