US, Europeans Submit Anti-Iran Resolution to IAEA Board

Faults Iran for not satisfying questions on traces of uranium

The week-long IAEA Board of Governors meeting moved into its second day, with continued focus on Iran, and the US and European allies offering a draft resolution to the body condemning Iran.

The resolution takes aim at the least substantial and most widely discussed issue, the discovery of uranium traces at undeclared sites in Iran. The resolution echoes IAEA position that Iran has not satisfied their questions about the traces.

The uranium traces have been an IAEA topic for years, and Iran very recently turned over what they say were all the documents explaining it. The US was very keen to continue the IAEA inquiry, and subsequently the IAEA was not satisfied with what they were given.

Iran’s nuclear chief Mohammed Eslami issued a statement today questioning the IAEA’s impartiality, saying they need to stop the infiltration of IAEA operations by Iran’s enemies.

Speaking of Israel, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett demanded Iran be sent a clear warning and threatened with a “heavy price” during the IAEA meeting. This is roughly in line with what Israel expects of most meetings.

Iran has expressed concern about IAEA monitoring amounting to de facto spying by Israel and others for years, and with Israel coming up with Iranian documents from spying operations. The undeclared sites themselves had their origin in Israel’s spying.

How much of a “price” the IAEA can inflict at this point is unclear, as the US seems to be backing away from Iran talks on its own, and absent a nuclear deal from those talks, Iran’s obligations are far more limited than the West hoped.

If anything this underscores what Israeli officials have been saying recently, that a nuclear deal with Iran, even a “bad” one, would be more desirable than no deal at all.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.