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.