The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors on Wednesday overwhelmingly passed a draft resolution criticizing Iran over its lack of transparency and failure to cooperate with the agency.
The resolution, submitted by the United States, Britain, Germany and France, focused on Iran’s failure to answer questions relating to uranium traces discovered at three undeclared sites in the country as required by the Nonproliferation Treaty, reported Reuters.
The four countries released a joint statement welcoming the move, calling it an “unambiguous message to Iran.”
“We, the governments of France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States, welcome the IAEA Board of Governors’ adoption of a resolution responding to Iran’s insufficient cooperation with the IAEA on serious and outstanding safeguards issues relating to Iran’s obligations under its NPT-required safeguards agreement.
“The overwhelming majority vote at the IAEA Board of Governors today sends an unambiguous message to Iran that it must meet its safeguards obligations and provide technically credible clarifications on outstanding safeguards issues,” the statement added. “Today’s resolution affirms the Board’s support for the independent, professional and impartial efforts of the IAEA to uphold the international safeguards system, which is essential to all of our security.
“We urge Iran to heed the call of the international community to fulfill its legal obligations and cooperate with the IAEA to fully clarify and resolve issues without further delay.”
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett also welcomed the move, calling it a “significant decision that exposes Iran’s true face.”
“The Board of Governors’ decision determines that Iran is neither cooperating with the IAEA nor obeying its directives and is thus preventing the agency from fulfilling its important function and acting against military nuclear activity,” Bennett said in a statement.
“The many countries that voted for the decision cooperated in order to block and prevent Iran from attaining nuclear weapons. Today’s IAEA vote is a clear warning light to Iran: If Iran continues its activity, the leading countries must bring the matter back to the UN Security Council,” Bennett concluded.
Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz said that the IAEA had taken an “important step” with the vote, but pressed for more action.
“Iran has demonstrated once again that it threatens both regional and global peace,” said Gantz. “In addition to the condemnation, the international community must take concrete steps. Every monitoring device that is turned off should be met with diplomatic and economic sanctions. We must stand united and work closely together in facing Iranian regional and global aggression.”
