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The United States and the "European Troika" (Britain, France, and Germany) are seeking to garner support from members of the International Atomic Energy Agency's Board of Governors to pass a resolution next week that would refer Iran to the United Nations Security Council for the first time in 20 years, according to diplomats cited by Reuters.
The draft resolution comes as a follow-up to a resolution adopted by the Board on June 12 of last year, which concluded that Iran had violated its nuclear non-proliferation commitments due to its lack of full cooperation with an investigation into uranium traces found at undeclared sites.
The day after, Israel began striking Iran's nuclear facilities, followed by the United States, leading to the destruction or severe damage of Iranian uranium enrichment facilities.
Since then, Tehran has not allowed IAEA inspectors to return to the bombed sites or to verify the fate of its stockpiles of enriched uranium, including quantities enriched to up to 60 percent, a level close to that needed to produce nuclear weapons.
Referring Iran to the Security Council represents the culmination of an ongoing dispute between Tehran and the Agency regarding access to these sites, after the Board of Governors adopted two resolutions over the past year demanding Iran disclose its enriched uranium stockpiles and grant the Agency full access for verification.
The draft resolution has not yet been officially submitted to the Board, and negotiations on the final wording of the text are still ongoing among member states, according to diplomats.
As a party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Iran asserts its right to develop nuclear technology, including uranium enrichment, for peaceful purposes, and states it will not seek to produce nuclear weapons.
However, the IAEA points out that Iran is the only country enriching uranium to a level of 60 percent without possessing a nuclear weapon, and considers the quantities produced at this level to be "of grave concern."
The Agency believes that more than 200 kilograms of highly enriched uranium survived the bombing and is stored in a tunnel complex in the city of Isfahan and at the Natanz nuclear facility.
Before the US-Israeli strikes in June 2025, the IAEA estimated that Iran possessed approximately 440 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60 percent, a level close to the 90 percent required to produce a nuclear weapon, and far exceeding the 3.67 percent limit stipulated in the 2015 agreement between Iran and the major powers.
