IAEA Board passes resolution against Iran

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) 35-nation Board of Governors passed a resolution on Wednesday calling on Iran to step up cooperation with the watchdog.

News ID: 845986

EghtesadOnline: The resolution was passed by a vote of 20 in favor and two against with 12 abstentions, diplomats said. It follows up on the last resolution 18 months ago that ordered Iran to comply urgently with a years-long IAEA investigation into uranium traces found at undeclared sites, Reuters reported.

While the number of sites under investigation has been narrowed to two from three, Iran still has yet to give the IAEA satisfactory answers on how the traces got there.

"The need for the Board to hold Iran accountable to its legal obligations is long overdue. Iran must urgently, fully and unambiguously co-operate with the Agency," Britain, France and Germany said in a statement to the Board on the resolution they proposed.

The resolution came while Tehran has cooperated with the Agency vastly. The head of the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization Mohammad Eslami said Friday that Iran has reduced its commitments to the JCPOA under the deal's paragraphs. The United States which has voted in favor of the resolution withdrew from the JCPOA in May 2018 while the other European participants of it, namely those trio that drafted the resolution remained indifferent to the US illegal withdrawal in its violation. / Mehr