Washington, DC – Diplomats say the United States and its allies Britain, France, and Germany (the E3) are pressing other members of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Board of Governors to pass a resolution next week referring Iran to the UN Security Council for the first time in 20 years. If adopted, the resolution would complement a previous one adopted on June 12, 2025. That earlier resolution concluded that Iran had violated its non-proliferation obligations by failing to cooperate with an investigation into traces of uranium found at undeclared sites.
The repercussions of the bombing and the halt of inspection operations
The day after the June 2025 resolution, Israel began bombing Iranian nuclear facilities, later joined by the United States. This resulted in the destruction or severe damage of uranium enrichment facilities. Since then, Iran has not allowed IAEA inspectors to return to those sites or verify its remaining stockpile of uranium enriched to 60%, a level approaching the 90% weapons-grade threshold. The IAEA estimates that more than 200 kilograms of this uranium remain stored in a tunnel complex in Isfahan and at the Natanz facility. This amount is sufficient to produce approximately 10 nuclear weapons if further enriched.
Draft resolution and Security Council position
The Council, in its latest draft resolution, requests that the decisions be referred to all IAEA member states, the Security Council, and the General Assembly. It also reiterates its call for Tehran to address its non-compliance with the safeguards agreement. However, the Security Council is unlikely to take concrete action given that Tehran’s allies, Russia and China, hold veto power. Meanwhile, Iran continues to insist that its program is peaceful, despite its unique ability to enrich uranium to such a high level without producing a bomb. This comes amid anticipation of the repercussions of this new diplomatic escalation on its ongoing conflict with Washington.
