Iran nuclear impasse deepens after US wins UN watchdog vote | Today’s news
The US has pushed through a resolution of no confidence in Iran that will refer its nuclear file to the UN Security Council, widening the diplomatic divide separating Washington from Beijing, Moscow and Tehran.
A resolution by the International Atomic Energy Agency to send Tehran’s case to the Security Council passed with 23 of the 35 councils of governors supporting the motion, according to an official vote tally. China and Russia led the remaining group of board members who either rejected the measure or abstained from voting.
Ahead of the vote, Beijing and Moscow joined Iran in rejecting the legality of the vote. The IAEA “lacks the legal basis” to even report on Iran’s activities, thereby “risking the politicization” of a technical matter, they wrote.
The mistrust could also open up the possibility of new military strikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities. In a separate diplomatic note circulated overnight, Iran warned Western countries against turning the IAEA into a tool of war. Tehran’s envoy highlighted the precedent of June 2025, when Israel launched attacks on Iran a day after the organization found the Islamic Republic was in default on its nuclear commitments.
“The Israeli regime’s and America’s aggression against Iran just hours after its adoption is solid evidence of the sponsors’ hidden agenda,” Iran’s IAEA envoy wrote in an 11-page document that called on diplomats to “condemn the illegal attacks.”
Wednesday’s diplomatic maneuver calls for Iran to “expeditiously correct its non-compliance” and allow controls to ensure “non-diversion of nuclear material”.
“The EU is seriously concerned about the complete suspension of Iran’s cooperation with the IAEA,” the bloc said in a statement after backing the US proposal. “Iran must urgently address this to allay concerns about the possible misuse of declared nuclear material for peaceful uses.”
President Donald Trump said last week that the US was considering new strikes against deeply buried facilities suspected of nuclear activity. He has long argued that the motive for the war with Iran in late February was to prevent the country from developing a nuclear weapon.
“We may be hitting the pickaxe very soon,” Trump told reporters on Sept. 4, referring to the heavily fortified mountain site south of Iran’s main uranium enrichment facility at Natanz. “We know everybody who moves in Pickaxe,” Trump said. “If something goes wrong, we hit them.
In addition to the resolution that triggered the 12-day war in June 2025, the current conflict began a day after the IAEA reported sightings of renewed activity near the bombed sites.
The IAEA is increasingly frustrated that Iran is obstructing the work of its inspectors.
“There is no engagement, there is no information and we have been told that they will not cooperate until there is some agreement in the broader political negotiations,” IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said on Monday.
In a memo sent out on Tuesday, Iran said Grossi’s concerns about proliferation were “irrelevant” amid the “damaged international and regional peace and security” created by the war.
This article was generated from an automated news agency source without text modification.
