U.S. Believes Its Time To Report Iran to SC

U.S. Believes It Is Time To Report Iran to Security Council

Iran's actions have exhausted the IAEA board's forbearance

The United States supports the European Union (EU) and the growing majority of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) board that believes it is time to report Iran's noncompliance with nuclear weapons curbs to the U.N. Security Council, the chief U.S. negotiator says.

"Iran's actions, regrettably, have exhausted this board's forbearance. And regrettably, we are now being subjected to a variety of threats," Ambassador Gregory Schulte told the IAEA board of governors September 21 in Vienna, Austria.

"A country with peaceful intent would fully comply with its [Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty] commitments, not threaten to withdraw from them. A country seeking our confidence would suspend activities of concern, not threaten to start the next stage."

The EU submitted a motion September 23 to the IAEA board that calls for Iran to be referred to the U.N. Security Council later this year unless it halts some of its nuclear activities, according to press reports.

Schulte said there are two reasons why Iran's noncompliance with NPT requirements should be referred to the Security Council.

"First, our statute requires us to make this report. Two years of determined effort by the agency, in the face of continued obstruction, have not allowed the agency to conclude that there are no undeclared nuclear materials or activities in Iran," he said.

There is no confidence in Iran’s broad assertion that its program development activities are peaceful in nature, he said.

"This absence of confidence, coupled with the scope and nature of Iran's nuclear program, unexplained connections to the military, extensive efforts at concealment, and the intentional shattering of the Paris Agreement, give us clear cause to notify the Security Council," he said.

Schulte said it is the goal of every nation to resolve this issue in a peaceful, diplomatic way that would restore confidence in Iran's activities and bring it back into full compliance with its nuclear safeguard obligations.

"Reporting Iran to the Security Council will signal to Iran's leadership that they are pursuing a course that will lead to increasing condemnation and isolation. It will allow the Security Council to take appropriate steps to strengthen international efforts to achieve a diplomatic solution," Schulte said.

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