UN nuclear watchdog finds Iran isn’t complying with its obligations

VIENNA (AP) — The U.N. nuclear watchdog’s board of governors on Thursday formally found that Iran isn’t complying with its nuclear obligations for the first time in 20 years, a move that could lead to further tensions and set in motion an effort to restore United Nations sanctions on Tehran later this year.

Iran reacted immediately, saying it will establish a new enrichment facility “in a secure location” and that “other measures are also being planned.”

“The Islamic Republic of Iran has no choice but to respond to this political resolution,” the Iranian Foreign Ministry and the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran said in a joint statement.

Nineteen countries on the International Atomic Energy Agency’s board, which represents the agency’s member nations, voted for the resolution, according to diplomats who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the outcome of the closed-doors vote.

Russia, China and Burkina Faso opposed it, 11 abstained and two did not vote.

In the draft resolution seen by The Associated Press, the board of governors renews a call on Iran to provide answers “without delay” in a long-running investigation into uranium traces found at several locations that Tehran has failed to declare as nuclear sites.

Western officials suspect that the uranium traces could provide evidence that Iran had a secret nuclear weapons program until 2003.

The resolution was put forward by France, the U.K., Germany and the United States.

Speaking to Iranian state television after the vote, the spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran said that his agency immediately informed the IAEA of “specific and effective” actions Tehran would take.

“One is the launch of a third secure site” for enrichment, spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi said. He did not elaborate on the location. Iran has two underground sites at Fordo and Natanz and has been building tunnels in the mountains near Natanz since suspected Israeli sabotage attacks targeted that facility.

The other step would be the advanced centrifuges at Fordo. “The implication of this is that our production of enriched materials will significantly increase,” Kamalvandi said.

According to the draft resolution, “Iran’s many failures to uphold its obligations since 2019 to provide the Agency with full and timely cooperation regarding undeclared nuclear material and activities at multiple undeclared locations in Iran ... constitutes non-compliance with its obligations under its Safeguards Agreement.”

Under the so-called safeguards obligations, which are part of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Iran is legally bound to declare all nuclear material and activities and allow IAEA inspectors to verify that none of it is being diverted from peaceful uses.

The draft resolution also finds that the IAEA’s “inability ... to provide assurance that Iran’s nuclear program is exclusively peaceful gives rise to questions that are within the competence of the United Nations Security Council, as the organ bearing the main responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security.”

The vote comes at a sensitive time as tensions in the region have been rising, with the U.S. State Department announcing on Wednesday that it is drawing down the presence of people who are not deemed essential to operations in the Middle East.

U.S. President Donald Trump has previously said that Israel or the U.S. could carry out airstrikes targeting Iranian nuclear facilities if negotiations failed.

The U.S. and Iran have been holding talks on Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program. Oman’s foreign minister said earlier Thursday that a sixth round of negotiations will be held in his country on Sunday.

The draft resolution makes a direct reference to the U.S.-Iran talks, stressing its “support for a diplomatic solution to the problems posed by the Iranian nuclear program, including the talks between the United States and Iran, leading to an agreement that addresses all international concerns related to Iran’s nuclear activities, encouraging all parties to constructively engage in diplomacy.”

A senior Western diplomat last week described the resolution as a “serious step,” but added that Western nations are “not closing the door to diplomacy on this issue.” However, if Iran fails to cooperate, an extraordinary IAEA board meeting will likely be held in the summer, during which another resolution could get passed that will refer the issue to the Security Council, the diplomat said on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to discuss the issue with the media.

The three European nations have repeatedly threatened in the past to reinstate sanctions that have been lifted under the original 2015 Iran nuclear deal if Iran does not provide “technically credible” answers to the U.N. nuclear watchdog’s questions.

The authority to reestablish those sanctions by the complaint of any member of the original 2015 nuclear deal expires in October, putting the West on a clock to exert pressure on Tehran over its program before losing that power.

The resolution comes on heels of the IAEA’s so-called “comprehensive report” that was circulated among member states last weekend. In the report, the U.N. nuclear watchdog said that Iran’s cooperation with the agency has “been less than satisfactory” when it comes to uranium traces discovered by agency inspectors at several locations in Iran.

One of the sites became known publicly in 2018, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed it at the United Nations and called it a clandestine nuclear warehouse hidden at a rug-cleaning plant. Iran denied this, but in 2019, IAEA inspectors detected the presence of uranium traces there as well as at two other sites.

维也纳（美联社）——联合国核监督机构理事会周四正式认定伊朗20年来首次未能履行其核义务，此举可能导致进一步的紧张局势，并可能在今年晚些时候启动恢复联合国对德黑兰制裁的努力。

伊朗立即做出反应，表示将在“安全地点”建立新的浓缩铀设施，并且“正在计划采取其他措施”。

伊朗外交部和伊朗原子能组织在一份联合声明中表示：“伊朗伊斯兰共和国别无选择，只能对这项政治决议作出回应。”

据不愿透露姓名的外交官透露，代表国际原子能机构成员国的国际原子能机构理事会的19个国家投票赞成该决议，此次闭门投票的结果正是由这些外交官描述的。

俄罗斯、中国和布基纳法索投了反对票，11 个国家弃权，2 个国家未投票。

据美联社看到的决议草案显示，理事会再次呼吁伊朗“立即”就一项长期调查作出答复，该调查涉及在德黑兰未申报为核设施的几个地点发现的铀痕迹。

西方官员怀疑，铀的痕迹可能证明伊朗在2003年之前一直秘密进行核武器计划。

该决议由法国、英国、德国和美国提出。

投票结束后，伊朗原子能组织发言人在接受伊朗国家电视台采访时表示，该组织已立即将德黑兰将采取的“具体有效的”行动告知国际原子能机构。

发言人贝赫鲁兹·卡迈勒万迪表示，“其中一项是启动第三个安全浓缩铀设施”。他没有详细说明该设施的地点。伊朗在福尔多和纳坦兹设有两处地下浓缩铀设施，自疑似以色列对纳坦兹设施发动破坏袭击以来，伊朗一直在纳坦兹附近的山区修建隧道。

另一项举措是引进福尔多（Fordo）的先进离心机。“这意味着我们富集材料的产量将大幅提高，”卡马尔万迪（Kamalvandi）说道。

根据该决议草案，“自 2019 年以来，伊朗多次未能履行其义务，向国际原子能机构提供关于伊朗境内多个未申报地点的未申报核材料和活动的全面及时的合作……这构成其违反《保障监督协定》项下义务的行为。”

根据《不扩散核武器条约》中所谓的保障监督义务，伊朗有法律义务申报所有核材料和核活动，并允许国际原子能机构核查人员核实这些材料和活动是否被挪作他用。

该决议草案还认为，国际原子能机构“无法保证伊朗的核计划完全用于和平目的，这引发了一些问题，这些问题属于联合国安全理事会的职权范围，因为安理会是维护国际和平与安全的主要责任机构。”

此次投票正值敏感时期，该地区的紧张局势不断升级。美国国务院周三宣布，将减少在中东地区非必要人员的驻扎。

美国总统唐纳德·特朗普此前曾表示，如果谈判失败，以色列或美国可能会对伊朗核设施发动空袭。

美国和伊朗一直在就德黑兰快速推进的核计划举行会谈。阿曼外交部长周四早些时候表示，第六轮谈判将于周日在阿曼举行。

该决议草案直接提及美伊会谈，强调其“支持通过外交途径解决伊朗核计划带来的问题，包括美伊之间的会谈，以达成一项解决所有与伊朗核活动相关的国际关切的协议，并鼓励各方建设性地参与外交活动”。

一位西方高级外交官上周称该决议是“严肃的一步”，但他补充说，西方国家“并未就此问题关闭外交大门”。然而，这位外交官表示，如果伊朗不予合作，国际原子能机构理事会很可能在夏季召开一次特别会议，届时可能会通过另一项决议，将该问题提交安理会。这位外交官要求匿名，因为他未被授权就此事接受媒体采访。

这三个欧洲国家过去曾多次威胁，如果伊朗不向联合国核监督机构提出的问题提供“技术上可信的”答案，他们将恢复根据 2015 年伊朗核协议解除的制裁。

任何2015年原核协议成员国均可通过申诉重新实施这些制裁的权力将于10月到期，这意味着西方必须在失去这项权力之前，对德黑兰的核计划施加压力。

这项决议是在国际原子能机构上周末向成员国分发所谓“综合报告”之后出台的。该报告指出，在国际原子能机构核查人员于伊朗境内多处地点发现铀痕迹一事上，伊朗与该机构的合作“远未达到令人满意的程度”。

其中一个地点于2018年被公之于众，当时以色列总理内塔尼亚胡在联合国公开了该地点，并称其为隐藏在一家地毯清洗厂内的秘密核仓库。伊朗否认了这一说法，但在2019年，国际原子能机构的核查人员在该地点以及另外两个地点检测到了铀的痕迹。