THREE EUROPEAN COUNTRIES and the United States have submitted a resolution to the UN’s nuclear watchdog board condemning Iran’s “non-compliance” with its nuclear obligations.

France, Germany, the UK and the US formally tabled the resolution at this week’s board meeting of the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which is expected to come to a vote tomorrow evening at the earliest.

It is the latest move in a years-long effort to restrict Iran’s nuclear activities over fears that it is seeking to develop nuclear weapons, which it denies.

The diplomatic manoeuvre comes as the United States and Iran have held several rounds of talks mediated by Oman aimed at securing an agreement on limiting Iran’s nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief.

“The text has been submitted,” three diplomatic sources told AFP tonight.

The draft resolution obtained by AFP calls on Iran ”to urgently remedy its non-compliance” with its commitments under the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

It also “deeply regrets” that Tehran “despite repeated calls from the Board and many opportunities offered… has failed to cooperate fully with the Agency”.

The agency’s “inability… to provide assurance that Iran’s nuclear programme is exclusively peaceful gives rise to questions that are within the competence of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC)”, which can draw up sanctions.

The resolution follows an IAEA report in late May that showed “a general lack of cooperation” by Tehran, diplomats said, including in providing “credible” answers to questions by the agency as well as the theft of confidential documents and the cleaning up of undeclared sites.

The report also criticised “less than satisfactory” cooperation from Tehran, particularly in explaining nuclear material found at undeclared sites in the past.

For years, the agency has been trying to obtain clarification on nuclear material and equipment found at undeclared sites and resulting from undeclared activities carried out until the early 2000s.

Iran has accelerated its production of near-weapons-grade uranium in recent months.

Iran’s ambassador to the IAEA Reza Najafi rejected the recent IAEA report, telling AFP that it “lacks a firm and hard foundation” and “many issues in the report are referring to past issues”.

“Claiming that Iran is not cooperating fully is not acceptable,” he said, adding that the resolution was “politically motivated”.

Najafi also threatened that Iran will “react very strongly”, in case the resolution is adopted.

Iran had earlier accused Israel of contributing “unreliable and misleading information” to it.

The development comes with high tensions in the Middle East over Israel’s military offensive in Gaza.

Iran has denied seeking nuclear arms and says it needs the uranium for civilian power production.

© AFP 2025