The EU submitted a motion that sets Iran up for referral to the UN Security Council, and pushed for a decision yesterday when the 35-nation board of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reconvenes.
Iran increased its own pressure against referral, threatening to restart uranium enrichment -- a possible pathway to nuclear arms, diplomats accredited to the agency said. They said Iran also warned it could block access for inspectors for the IAEA it had agreed to under a document that Iran has not yet ratified.
The diplomats said on Friday that both threats were contained in unsigned letters and shown by a member of the Iranian delegation to the IAEA head, Mohamed ElBaradei.
If signed and submitted, the letters become part of the official record.
The EU motion -- a draft resolution to the IAEA's board of governors -- calls on the 35-nation board to consider reporting Iran to the council. As grounds, it mentions noncompliance with provisions of the nuclear nonproliferation treaty (NPT) and suspicions that Iran's nuclear activities could threaten international peace and security, according to a draft copy.
An official of US President George W. Bush's administration said the US was willing to accept the motion as an interim measure.
Any resolution still must be accepted by the board before it has validity. The board agreed to reconvene yesterday and the Europeans, backed by the US and their allies, were expected to call then for approval by consensus or, if that proved impossible, for a vote.
The board normally makes decisions by consensus, but the divisive nature of the draft was expected to result in a vote, which the Europeans were expected to win against Iran's allies at the IAEA.
The Security Council could impose sanctions if it determines that Iran violated the NPT, but veto-carrying council members Russia and China -- which oppose even referral to the council -- were certain to vote against such action, and the draft made no mention of sanctions.
Still, it was unequivocal in saying that -- unless Iran ends uranium conversion and clears up questions remaining about its past nuclear activities -- the grounds exist for Security Council referral.
A nation's failure to comply with the nonproliferation treaty is automatic grounds for a report to the Security Council under IAEA statutes, and the draft said "Iran's many failures and breaches of its obligations ... constitute noncompliance."
Additionally, Iran's spotty record on cooperating with an IAEA probe since it began in 2002 has resulted in an "absence of confidence that Iran's nuclear program is exclusively for peaceful purposes," the document said. That finding puts Iran "within the competence of the Security Council, as the organ bearing the main responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security," the text said.
The draft did not specify a time frame, but outlined what Iran must do to avoid being brought before the Security Council, including:
Giving IAEA experts "access to individuals, documentation relating to [nuclear] procurement, dual use equipment, certain military owned workshops and research and development locations."
A return to "full and sustained suspension of all enrichment-related activity ... and reprocessing activity" -- allusions to the resumption by Iran last month of uranium conversion -- a precursor of enrichment, which can result in either nuclear fuel or the fissile core of warheads.
Iran's ratification of the additional agreement with the IAEA giving its inspectors the right to look more closely at Iran's nuclear activities.
From the tone of the draft submitted, it appeared the EU decided to go with a harsher text, even at the risk of alienating Russia.
The Europeans for years avoided US demands for support in its push to haul Iran before the Security Council. They reluctantly swung behind Washington last month, after Tehran walked away from talks with Britain, France and Germany meant to reduce suspicions about its nuclear aims and began uranium conversion.
LANDMARK CASE: ‘Every night we were dragged to US soldiers and sexually abused. Every week we were forced to undergo venereal disease tests,’ a victim said More than 100 South Korean women who were forced to work as prostitutes for US soldiers stationed in the country have filed a landmark lawsuit accusing Washington of abuse, their lawyers said yesterday. Historians and activists say tens of thousands of South Korean women worked for state-sanctioned brothels from the 1950s to 1980s, serving US troops stationed in country to protect the South from North Korea. In 2022, South Korea’s top court ruled that the government had illegally “established, managed and operated” such brothels for the US military, ordering it to pay about 120 plaintiffs compensation. Last week, 117 victims
‘HYANGDO’: A South Korean lawmaker said there was no credible evidence to support rumors that Kim Jong-un has a son with a disability or who is studying abroad South Korea’s spy agency yesterday said that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s daughter, Kim Ju-ae, who last week accompanied him on a high-profile visit to Beijing, is understood to be his recognized successor. The teenager drew global attention when she made her first official overseas trip with her father, as he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Analysts have long seen her as Kim’s likely successor, although some have suggested she has an older brother who is being secretly groomed as the next leader. The South Korean National Intelligence Service (NIS) “assesses that she [Kim Ju-ae]
In the week before his fatal shooting, right-wing US political activist Charlie Kirk cheered the boom of conservative young men in South Korea and warned about a “globalist menace” in Tokyo on his first speaking tour of Asia. Kirk, 31, who helped amplify US President Donald Trump’s agenda to young voters with often inflammatory rhetoric focused on issues such as gender and immigration, was shot in the neck on Wednesday at a speaking event at a Utah university. In Seoul on Friday last week, he spoke about how he “brought Trump to victory,” while addressing Build Up Korea 2025, a conservative conference
China has approved the creation of a national nature reserve at the disputed Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Island, 黃岩島), claimed by Taiwan and the Philippines, the government said yesterday, as Beijing moves to reinforce its territorial claims in the contested region. A notice posted online by the Chinese State Council said that details about the area and size of the project would be released separately by the Chinese National Forestry and Grassland Administration. “The building of the Huangyan Island National Nature Reserve is an important guarantee for maintaining the diversity, stability and sustainability of the natural ecosystem of Huangyan Island,” the notice said. Scarborough
RSS