Western Powers Propose Reporting Iran to UN Security Council Under NPT

Western powers, including the United States, Britain, France, and Germany, have submitted a proposed resolution to the 35-nation Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). If passed, the resolution would report Iran to the U.N. Security Council for the first time in 20 years for breaching its obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). IAEA diplomats indicate that the proposed text is almost certain to pass.

Taking effect in 1970 with 191 member states, the NPT aims to halt the spread of nuclear weapons-making capability, guarantee the right to develop nuclear energy for peaceful ends, and prompt nuclear-armed states to phase out their arsenals. Iran has been a non-nuclear-weapon signatory to the treaty since 1970. While Tehran maintains that its uranium enrichment programme is solely for peaceful purposes, Western powers and Israel suspect it intends to develop atomic bombs.

In June of last year, the IAEA Board of Governors passed a resolution declaring Iran in breach of its non-proliferation obligations due to failures to cooperate regarding undeclared nuclear material and activities. That same month, Israel and the United States bombed Iranian nuclear facilities, badly damaging its uranium-enrichment plants. Since then, Iran has not permitted the IAEA to return to those sites or accounted for its enriched uranium stocks.

For its part, Iran maintains that it has always adhered to its safeguards obligations, criticizing the IAEA's findings as politically motivated and lacking technical or legal basis. Sanctions were previously imposed on Iran in 2006 before being relieved under a 2015 deal with major powers. However, after President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the agreement in 2018 and reimposed sanctions, Iran retaliated by expanding its nuclear programme.