United Nations-
The United States warned on Wednesday that it would continue to apply “maximum pressure” on Iran to prevent it from acquiring a nuclear weapon. Tehran has rejected a new U.S. offer for nuclear talks amid growing concerns about its stockpile of enriched uranium.
“As reported by the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Tehran is still rapidly accelerating its production of highly enriched uranium,” the U.S. mission to the United Nations said in a statement. “Iran is also the only country in the world that does not have nuclear weapons but is still producing highly enriched uranium, and it has no credible peaceful use for it.”
The United States said Iran is “flagrantly” violating UN Security Council resolutions and ignoring the “clear and consistent concerns” of the Security Council and the international community.
“The Security Council must clearly and unanimously address and condemn this blatant behavior,” the U.S. government statement said.
Iran has denied for years that its nuclear program has military purposes. But since May 2019, it has gradually stopped fulfilling its nuclear commitments under the 2015 nuclear deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). The deal provided Tehran with sanctions relief in exchange for restrictions on its nuclear program.
In February 2021, Iran completely stopped fulfilling its commitments under the agreement. The International Atomic Energy Agency no longer verifies and monitors the relevant content of the agreement, which has raised many questions about Iran’s nuclear activities.
The United States, Britain and France convened a closed-door meeting at the UN Security Council on Wednesday to discuss Iran’s nuclear proliferation. Britain and France are still parties to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), but the Trump administration withdrew in 2018. Greece, Panama and South Korea also supported the convening of this meeting.
“We are deeply concerned about the latest report of the IAEA on Iran’s production of highly enriched uranium,” James Kariuki, Britain’s deputy permanent ambassador to the United Nations, told reporters.
“The director general reported last month that Iran has now produced 275 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60% – far more than the level required for civilian use – and no other non-nuclear weapon state has a similar scale of stockpile,” he said.
Kariuki stressed that Britain will take all necessary diplomatic measures to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, including re-activating UN sanctions – the so-called “snapback mechanism.” Under the JCPOA, previous UN sanctions can be quickly re-imposed if Iran fails to live up to its commitments.
The JCPOA is due to expire in October, meaning the window for substantive negotiations may be closing.
Iran’s permanent ambassador to the United Nations also attended the meeting, but the Iranian mission to the UN later criticized the meeting on social media platform X, saying “Washington is blatantly attempting to weaponize the UN Security Council to escalate its economic war against Iran. This dangerous abuse must be rejected to maintain the credibility of the Security Council.”
Russia and China, both signatories to the JCPOA, are allies of Iran.
China’s UN ambassador told reporters that the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna is currently handling the nuclear issue and that Beijing does not support Wednesday’s Security Council meeting. China’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Fu Cong, accused the Trump administration of pulling out of the JCPOA in 2017, leading to the collapse of the agreement. But he also said he hoped a new deal could be reached before the agreement expires in October.
“Extreme pressure on a country will not achieve its goals,” he added.
Fu Cong also revealed that China will hold a meeting in Beijing this Friday to discuss with Iran and Russia how to promote a possible agreement to stabilize the situation. The meeting will be chaired by Ma Zhaoxu, executive vice minister of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Alexeevich Ryabkov and Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi are expected to attend.