VIENNA: The US and three European allies have threatened Iran with another resolution at the UN nuclear watchdog’s board demanding action on issues such as explaining uranium traces found at undeclared sites, but left open whether or when they might follow through.
The warning delivered by Britain, France and Germany — the so-called E3 — and the US to a quarterly International Atomic Energy Agency Board of Governors meeting published on Thursday comes as the West’s standoff with Iran has been complicated by secret US-Iran talks.
A November resolution ordered Tehran to cooperate urgently with the IAEA’s investigation into the presence of uranium particles at three undeclared sites, since narrowed down to two.
Western powers have recently condemned Iran for stonewalling the IAEA on that and other issues like the re-installation surveillance cameras removed last year, and for enriching uranium to up to 60 percent purity, close to weapons grade. But in parallel diplomats say the United States has held secret “de-escalation” talks with Iran, potentially muddying the waters.
Those de-escalation talks, which Washington does not acknowledge, cover issues such as Iran’s recent slowdown of enrichment to 60 percent purity, frozen Iranian funds abroad, and a prisoner swap, diplomats say.
“If Iran fails to implement the essential and urgent actions contained in the November 2022 Resolution and the 4th March Joint Statement in full, the Board will have to be prepared to take further action in support of the (IAEA) Secretariat to hold Iran accountable in the future, including the possibility of a resolution,” the four Western powers said in a statement to the 35-nation IAEA board.
Iran tends to bristle at resolutions against it and respond by expanding or accelerating its nuclear activities. Iran says its nuclear program is strictly for peaceful uses. Western powers say there is no credible civilian explanation for it.
The joint statement addressed the re-installation of monitoring equipment such as cameras but only a fraction of the cameras the IAEA wants to put in place have been set up.
Rather than seek another binding resolution against Tehran for the lack of progress on these issues at this week’s IAEA board meeting, however, the Western powers issued a non-binding joint statement with 59 other countries calling on Iran to “act immediately” on issues including explaining the uranium traces.
A total of 22 countries of the 35 on the board backed the statement, fewer than the 26 that supported the resolution in November.
US, Europeans again threaten Iran with IAEA resolution but leave timing open
https://arab.news/92w4g
US, Europeans again threaten Iran with IAEA resolution but leave timing open
- Warning was delivered by Britain, France, Germany and the US to a quarterly IAEA Board of Governors meeting
- November resolution ordered Tehran to cooperate urgently with the IAEA’s investigation
Over 2,200 Daesh detainees transferred to Iraq from Syria: Iraqi official
- Iraq is still recovering from the severe abuses committed by the terrorists
BAGHDAD: Iraq has so far received 2,225 Daesh group detainees, whom the US military began transferring from Syria last month, an Iraqi official told AFP on Saturday.
They are among up to 7,000 Daesh detainees whose transfer from Syria to Iraq the US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced last month, in a move it said was aimed at “ensuring that the terrorists remain in secure detention facilities.”
Previously, they had been held in prisons and camps administered by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in northeast Syria.
The announcement of the transfer plan last month came after US envoy to Syria Tom Barrack declared that the SDF’s role in confronting Daesh had come to an end.
Saad Maan, head of the security information cell attached to the Iraqi prime minister’s office, told AFP on Saturday that “Iraq has received 2,225 terrorists from the Syrian side by land and air, in coordination with the international coalition,” which Washington has led since 2014 to fight Daesh.
He said they are being held in “strict, regular detention centers.”
A Kurdish military source confirmed to AFP the “continued transfer of Daesh detainees from Syria to Iraq under the protection of the international coalition,” using another name for Daesh.
On Saturday, an AFP photographer near the Kurdish-majority city of Qamishli in northeastern Syria saw a US military convoy and 11 buses with tinted windows.
- Iraq calls for repatriation -
Daesh seized swathes of northern and western Iraq starting in 2014, until Iraqi forces, backed by the international coalition, managed to defeat it in 2017.
Iraq is still recovering from the severe abuses committed by the terrorists.
In recent years, Iraqi courts have issued death and life sentences against those convicted of terrorism offenses.
Thousands of Iraqis and foreign nationals convicted of membership in the group are incarcerated in Iraqi prisons.
On Monday, the Iraqi judiciary announced it had begun investigative procedures involving 1,387 detainees it received as part of the US military’s operation.
In a statement to the Iraqi News Agency on Saturday, Maan said “the established principle is to try all those involved in crimes against Iraqis and those belonging to the terrorist Daesh organization before the competent Iraqi courts.”
Among the detainees being transferred to Iraq are Syrians, Iraqis, Europeans and holders of other nationalities, according to Iraqi security sources.
Iraq is calling on the concerned countries to repatriate their citizens and ensure their prosecution.
Maan noted that “the process of handing over the terrorists to their countries will begin once the legal requirements are completed.”
