In a closed-door meeting, the IAEA Board of Governors has voted up a resolution declaring Iran in breach of its non-proliferation obligations. “[The board] Finds that 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 with the Agency,” the resolution says, according to Reuters. The vote was said to be 19 for, 11 abstentions, and 3 votes—Russia, China, and Burkina Faso—against.
Iran immediately condemned the resolution, calling it a politically motivated move orchestrated by the United States and three European powers. “The Islamic Republic of Iran has no choice but to respond to this political resolution,” read a joint statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), reported IRNA. It added that the head of the Atomic Energy Organization has issued orders to establish a new uranium enrichment facility in a secure location and to replace first-generation centrifuges at the Fordow enrichment site with advanced IR-6 machines.
The joint statement rejected the resolution as a “recycled political tool” lacking a technical or legal basis. “Iran has always adhered to its Safeguards commitments,” it said, noting that no IAEA report has ever confirmed diversion of nuclear material or activities by Iran.
