U.N. atomic agency votes to censure Tehran, opening the way for punitive steps

By Laurence Norman

The Wall Street Journal

Iran faces fresh pressure over its nuclear work after United Nations atomic agency members backed a censure resolution Thursday against the country over its nuclear activities, prompting Tehran to say it will boost its capacity to make nuclear fuel.

The censure resolution, which was pushed by Britain, France and Germany and backed by the U.S., represents the first significant step in a monthslong process that could end with international sanctions being reimposed on Iran, according to Western diplomats, after they were lifted under a 2015 nuclear deal.

President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration has said it would tighten sanctions on Iran and prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon. His election has firmed up European determination to raise pressure on Iran over its nuclear program.

Immediately after the vote, Iran said it would launch a significant number of new advanced centrifuges at its nuclear facilities. That would allow Iran to further increase its capacity for making nuclear fuel. Iranian officials said there could be other measures but didn’t detail them.

The officials pledged to continue cooperating with the International Atomic Energy Agency, the IAEA, while slamming the European resolution as a “politicized, unrealistic and destructive approach.”

Any new step by Iran to advance its nuclear program could exacerbate tensions between Iran and the IAEA and with Washington ahead of Trump’s return to the White House.

Iranian officials have been sending signals since Trump’s election victory that they would be prepared to engage in diplomatic efforts on the nuclear program with the incoming U.S. administration. Trump has said that he isn’t seeking to oust Iran’s leadership and doesn’t want a conflict with Iran.

Thursday’s approval of the censure resolution wasn’t overwhelming. Nineteen of the IAEA’s 35-member state board voted in favor, three diplomats said. Twelve countries abstained. Russia, China and Burkina Faso were the three countries that opposed the resolution. A country that was behind on its dues didn’t vote.

Some countries had specific concerns about censuring Iran after it offered several potential concessions to improve cooperation with the IAEA during Director-General Rafael Grossi’s visit to Tehran last week. They included possibly stopping the accumulation of near-weapons-grade nuclear fuel.

The IAEA said in a recent report that Tehran had taken some preparatory steps in recent days to stop accumulating Iran’s current stockpile of 60% enriched uranium, which would already be enough to fuel four nuclear weapons if further enriched to 90%.

It couldn’t be determined in Iran’s post-vote statement whether officials would keep the 60% stockpile capped or resume expanding it.

Iran has greatly advanced its nuclear program since Trump pulled the U.S. from the nuclear agreement in 2018. The accord lifted most international sanctions on Tehran in exchange for tight but temporary restrictions on its nuclear deal. Trump’s broadening of U.S. sanctions on Iran heavily reduced European trade and that of others with Iran.

In addition to its buildup of nuclear fuel, officials from Iran have claimed that it has mastered most of the techniques of building a nuclear weapon. Iranian elites are now publicly discussing whether the country should turn to a nuclear deterrent.

U.S. officials have previously said Iran could field a nuclear weapon in several months. Washington doesn’t believe Iran has made a decision to build a nuclear weapon.

Thursday’s resolution centered on Iran’s failure to respond adequately to IAEA questions first raised five years ago regarding undeclared nuclear material found in Iran. It expressed “profound concern that Iran has still not provided necessary, full and unambiguous cooperation with the agency” to demonstrate that Tehran hasn’t diverted any material for a military nuclear program.

Iran has said its nuclear program is and has always been for purely peaceful, civilian purposes.

The censure resolution included a request for Grossi to prepare a comprehensive report on the IAEA’s concerns by next spring at the latest.

That could be the springboard for a resolution of Iranian noncompliance at the IAEA, a measure that would send the matter to the U.N. Security Council for consideration by next summer if Iran doesn’t cooperate.

Western diplomats have said that step would open the way for the European powers to snap back international sanctions on Iran, an option embedded in the nuclear deal, which expires in October 2025. A snapback decision can’t be blocked by a Russian or Chinese veto.

Snapping back the sanctions would effectively kill off the remnants of the 2015 nuclear deal. Iranian officials have said snapback could lead them to exit from the international treaty requiring states not to pursue nuclear weapons, a step taken by North Korea before it developed a nuclear weapon.

European diplomats hope to use the October 2025 snapback expiration as a deadline to press Tehran into some kind of a new agreement capping Iran’s nuclear program.