VIENNA: The UN nuclear watchdog’s board on Wednesday censured Iran for failing to cooperate fully with the agency, diplomats said, calling on Tehran to provide answers in a long-running investigation and reverse its decision to bar several experienced UN inspectors.
The development comes just over a week after a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency said Iran has further increased its stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels, he latest in Tehran’s attempts to steadily exert pressure on the international community.
The vote by the 35-member board at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna sets the stage for a likely further escalation of tensions between the agency and Iran, which has reacted strongly to similar previous resolutions.
Twenty members voted for the resolution, while Russia and China opposed it, 12 abstained and one did not vote, according to diplomats. They spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the outcome of the closed-doors vote. The resolution was put forward by France, Germany and Britain.
Censure resolutions by the IAEA board are not legally binding but send a strong political and diplomatic message.
The resolution, a draft of which was seen by The Associated Press, called on Tehran to implement a joint statement between Iran and the IAEA from March 2023. In that statement, Iran pledged to resolve issues surrounding sites where inspectors have questions about possible undeclared nuclear activity, and to allow the IAEA to “implement further appropriate verification and monitoring activities.”
Inspectors have said two sites near Tehran bore traces of processed uranium. The IAEA has urged Iran to provide “technically credible” answers about the origin and current location of the nuclear material in order for it “to be in a position to provide assurance that Iran’s nuclear program is exclusively peaceful.”
While the number of sites about which the IAEA has questions has been reduced from four to two since 2019, those lingering questions have been a persistent source of tensions.
The IAEA has identified the sites as Turquzabad and Varamin. The IAEA has said inspectors believe Iran used the Varamin site from 1999 until 2003 as a pilot project to process uranium ore and convert it into a gas form. The IAEA said buildings at the site had been demolished in 2004.
Tehran insists its program is peaceful, though the West and the IAEA say Iran had an organized military nuclear program until 2003.
Turquzabad is where the IAEA believes Iran took some of the material at Varamin amid the demolition, though it has said that alone cannot “explain the presence of the multiple types of isotopically altered particles” found there.
In an apparent attempt to raise the pressure on Tehran, the resolution approved Wednesday states that IAEA Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi may need to prepare a “comprehensive and updated assessment” on unresolved issues surrounding Iran’s nuclear program, if there is “a continued failure by Iran to provide the necessary, full and unambiguous co-operation” to resolve the unanswered questions.
The IAEA board last censured Iran in November 2022. Iran retaliated by beginning to enrich uranium to 60 percent purity at its Fordo nuclear plant. Uranium enriched at 60 percent purity is just a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90 percent.
Iran responded to a previous resolution in June 2022 by removing IAEA cameras and monitoring equipment from its nuclear sites.
Iran in September barred several experienced UN inspectors from monitoring the country’s nuclear program. Grossi said at the time that the decision constituted “a very serious blow” to the agency’s ability to do its job “to the best possible level.”
Under a 2015 deal with world powers, Tehran agreed to limit enrichment of uranium to levels necessary for generating nuclear power in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. At the time, UN inspectors were tasked with monitoring the program.
However, tensions steadily grew between Iran and the IAEA since 2018, when then-President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the United States from the nuclear deal. Since then, Iran has abandoned all limits the deal put on its program and quickly stepped up enrichment.
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UN nuclear agency’s board votes to censure Iran for failing to cooperate fully with the watchdog
UN nuclear agency’s board votes to censure Iran for failing to cooperate fully with the watchdog
- The vote by the 35-member board at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna sets the stage for a likely further escalation of tensions between the agency and Iran
- Twenty members voted for the resolution, while Russia and China opposed it, 12 abstained and one did not vote
Protesters block Beirut roads after Cabinet approves new taxes that raise fuel prices
- On Tuesday, taxi drivers and others shut down key routes and warn they can escalate
- The government says the money supports salary and pension boosts for public workers after the currency collapse
BEIRUT: Protesters blocked main roads in and around Beirut on Tuesday after Lebanon’s Cabinet approved new taxes that raise fuel prices and other products to fund public pay hikes.
The Cabinet approved a tax of 300,000 Lebanese pounds (about $3.30) on every 20 liters (5.3 gallons) of gasoline on Monday. Diesel fuel was exempted from the new tax, as most in Lebanon depend on it to run private generators to make up for severe shortages in state electricity.
The government also agreed to increase the value-added tax on all products already subject to the levy from 11 to 12 percent, which the parliament still has to approve.
The tax increases are to support raises and pension boosts of public employees, after wages lost value in the 2019 currency collapse, giving them the equivalent of an additional six months’ salary. Information Minister Paul Morcos said the pay increases were estimated to cost about $800 million.
Though the Mediterranean country sits on one of the largest gold reserves in the Middle East, it suffers ongoing inflation and widespread corruption. The cash-strapped country also suffered about $11 billion in damages in the 2024 war between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group.
Anger over fuel hike
Ghayath Saadeh, one of a group of taxi drivers who blocked a main road leading into downtown Beirut, said the country’s leaders “consider us taxi drivers to be garbage.”
“Everything is getting more expensive, food and drinks, and Ramadan is coming,” he said. “We will block all the roads, God willing, if they don’t respond to us.”
When the Lebanese government proposed new taxes in 2019, including a $6 monthly fee for using Internet calls through services such as WhatsApp, mass protests broke out that paralyzed the country for months. Demonstrators called for the country’s leaders to step down over widespread corruption, government paralysis and failing infrastructure, and for an end to the country’s sectarian power-sharing system.
Lebanon has been under international pressure to make financial reforms for years, but has so far made little progress.
Weapons plan discussed
Also Monday, the cabinet received a report from the Lebanese army on its progress on a plan to disarm non-state militant groups in the country, including Hezbollah.
Last month, the army announced it had completed the first phase of the plan, covering the area south of the Litani River, near the border with Israel. The second phase of the plan will cover segments of southern Lebanon between the Litani and the Awali rivers, which includes the port city of Sidon.
Morcos, the information minister, said following the cabinet session that the second stage is expected to take four months but could be extended “depending on the available resources, the continuation of Israeli attacks and the obstacles on the ground.”
The disarmament plan comes after a US-brokered ceasefire nominally ended a war between Hezbollah and Israel in November 2024. Since then, Israel has accused Hezbollah of rebuilding and has continued to launch near-daily strikes in Lebanon and to occupy several hilltop points on the Lebanese side of the border.
Hezbollah has insisted that the ceasefire deal only requires it to disarm south of the Litani and that it will not discuss disarming in the rest of the country until Israel stops its strikes and withdraws from all Lebanese territory.
The Cabinet approved a tax of 300,000 Lebanese pounds (about $3.30) on every 20 liters (5.3 gallons) of gasoline on Monday. Diesel fuel was exempted from the new tax, as most in Lebanon depend on it to run private generators to make up for severe shortages in state electricity.
The government also agreed to increase the value-added tax on all products already subject to the levy from 11 to 12 percent, which the parliament still has to approve.
The tax increases are to support raises and pension boosts of public employees, after wages lost value in the 2019 currency collapse, giving them the equivalent of an additional six months’ salary. Information Minister Paul Morcos said the pay increases were estimated to cost about $800 million.
Though the Mediterranean country sits on one of the largest gold reserves in the Middle East, it suffers ongoing inflation and widespread corruption. The cash-strapped country also suffered about $11 billion in damages in the 2024 war between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group.
Anger over fuel hike
Ghayath Saadeh, one of a group of taxi drivers who blocked a main road leading into downtown Beirut, said the country’s leaders “consider us taxi drivers to be garbage.”
“Everything is getting more expensive, food and drinks, and Ramadan is coming,” he said. “We will block all the roads, God willing, if they don’t respond to us.”
When the Lebanese government proposed new taxes in 2019, including a $6 monthly fee for using Internet calls through services such as WhatsApp, mass protests broke out that paralyzed the country for months. Demonstrators called for the country’s leaders to step down over widespread corruption, government paralysis and failing infrastructure, and for an end to the country’s sectarian power-sharing system.
Lebanon has been under international pressure to make financial reforms for years, but has so far made little progress.
Weapons plan discussed
Also Monday, the cabinet received a report from the Lebanese army on its progress on a plan to disarm non-state militant groups in the country, including Hezbollah.
Last month, the army announced it had completed the first phase of the plan, covering the area south of the Litani River, near the border with Israel. The second phase of the plan will cover segments of southern Lebanon between the Litani and the Awali rivers, which includes the port city of Sidon.
Morcos, the information minister, said following the cabinet session that the second stage is expected to take four months but could be extended “depending on the available resources, the continuation of Israeli attacks and the obstacles on the ground.”
The disarmament plan comes after a US-brokered ceasefire nominally ended a war between Hezbollah and Israel in November 2024. Since then, Israel has accused Hezbollah of rebuilding and has continued to launch near-daily strikes in Lebanon and to occupy several hilltop points on the Lebanese side of the border.
Hezbollah has insisted that the ceasefire deal only requires it to disarm south of the Litani and that it will not discuss disarming in the rest of the country until Israel stops its strikes and withdraws from all Lebanese territory.
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