Iran International
The United States is fully coordinating with its European allies to contain Iran’s nuclear program, a US official told Iran International on Wednesday.
This comes two days after Wall Street Journal reported that the Biden administration was pressing Britain, France and Germany to back off plans to rebuke Iran for nuclear advances.
The US official told Iran International that Washington has kept the three European allies, also known as the E3, informed on its interactions with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and on matters related to keeping pressure on Iran. Any allegation that the US is keeping its allies apprised, they said, is false.
In an email statement to Iran International, the US official said “we are increasing pressure on Iran through sanctions and international isolation as seen most recently in the coordinated G7 measures taken in the wake of Iran’s attack against Israel last month. No decisions have been taken with respect to the upcoming BOG," referring to the IAEA's Board of Governors' meeting from June 3 to 7.
"Any speculation about decisions is premature,” the official added.
Last week, Reuters reported that the US and European allies were at odds over how to deal with Iran: to confront or not?
On Wednesday Reuters reported that Britain, France and Germany have circulated a draft resolution against Iran ahead of next week's board meeting with the UN nuclear watchdog, according to Reuters.
The tensions come on the heels of a confidential IAEA report, viewed by Iran International and several other media outlets on Monday, that warned Iran is continuing to enrich uranium to near weapons-grade levels.
According to the report, as of May 11, Iran has 142.1 kilograms of uranium enriched up to 60 percent which is an increase of 20.6 kilograms since that last report by the UN watchdog in February.
That means Iran's estimated stockpile of enriched uranium had reached more than 30 times the limit set out in the 2015 nuclear agreement between Tehran and world powers.
Iran insists that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.
A "Dangerous" Situation
Behnam Ben Taleblu, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), told Iran International, the US and its European allies are not on the same page when it comes to Iran - and that poses risks.
"This is a dangerous situation. When the US and its allies cannot be in the same sheet of music because they don't share the same assessment of the threat and what to do about it."
US officials told Iran International on Wednesday: “We remain tightly coordinated with our E3 partners.”
Wall Street Journal reported that France and Britain were concerned that Washington lacks a strategy for dealing with Iran’s nuclear advances and European diplomats have said that the Biden administration appears unwilling to either pursue a serious diplomatic effort with Iran or take punitive actions against Tehran’s nuclear transgressions.
British and French officials have told Washington they want to press ahead with a censure resolution, saying it was time to draw a line, according to Wall Street Journal.
However, the US officials believe it is still too early to make a final decision on the tactics to contain Iran before the BOG.
The Biden administration also agrees with Europeans on the need to increase pressure on Iran, the US officials said, however, the US has proposed other options, including cutting off Iranian banks still operating in Europe and to enlist the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist entity as the US did in 2019 under the Trump administration.
In Ben Taleblu’s view the fact that there has not been a resolution of censure for more than a year now demonstrates the point of the Wall Street Journal article.
"So whether the Europeans use the word lobbying or the Americans deny based on how loaded this word is, the proof is really in the pudding," Ben Taleblu said.
After the US pulled out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, the IAEA has not been allowed to access certain facilities, including centrifuge workshops since 2021.
US officials said they want to raise the costs for Iran for its lack of cooperation.
IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi hasn't updated the Board on the outcome of its recent engagements with Iran. The US government believes pre-determining an outcome would be counter-productive.
Grossi said last week the IAEA was planning to continue technical discussions with Iran but they had not yet taken place due to last weekend's helicopter crash that killed President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.
Reuters reported on Wednesday that Britain, France and Germany have circulated a draft resolution against Iran ahead of the UN nuclear watchdog's board meeting next week and appear determined to push it despite opposition from their US ally, according to three diplomats.
This week, a confidential report by the UN nuclear watchdog – and seen by several news agencies – painted a starker image of Tehran’s nuclear ambitions. It revealed that Iran’s stockpile of uranium enriched to 60% purity had surged to 142.1 kilograms, edging close to weapons-grade levels.
The increase, a significant jump from previous reports, not only underscores Iran’s ongoing advancements in its nuclear capabilities but also intensifies the public pressure on the West to counter Tehran’s accelerating nuclear efforts.
The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board has meanwhile argued that there is little doubt about Iran’s intentions to join the “nuclear-weapons club.”
The editorial board suggests that the White House doesn’t want another new international crisis before the November election. Highlighting Tehran's malign activities over the past year, including support for terrorist groups, the WSJ editorial board argues that Iran's behavior has remained unchanged regardless of censure. The board insists that appeasement is not the solution as Iran continues to escalate its actions.
In all likelihood, Tehran, which has barred inspectors from monitoring its nuclear activities since September 2023, is already significantly advancing towards developing nuclear weapons – a charge it has consistently denied.
And yet, behind the scenes the Biden administration reportedly lobbied other countries to refrain from censuring Iran at the upcoming IAEA meeting.
US officials, according to the Wall Street Journal, encouraged other nations to abstain from a censure vote, aligning with Washington's position of seeking a more cautious approach to handling Iran’s nuclear activities.
The IAEA board passed a resolution rebuking Iran in November 2022, with repeated warnings from US and European officials in Vienna that they would take action if Tehran did not rein in its nuclear advances and enhance cooperation with the agency.
US officials have since denied that Washington lobbied other countries to avoid censuring Iran, saying that it is “actively increasing pressure” on Tehran.
Be that as it may, the reported US stance contrasts with Britain and France's push for stronger action against Iran to uphold the IAEA’s authority and credibility – leading European diplomats to be “frustrated over what they see as US efforts to undermine their approach,” according to the WSJ.
Other experts, such as Mark Dubowitz, the chief executive of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, argued to the WSJ, that passing a censure resolution would document Iran’s noncompliance, potentially paving the way for the reinstatement of international sanctions.
US officials, though, are seemingly proposing the option to have a comprehensive IAEA report on Iran’s noncompliance, in order to build the case for re-imposing international sanctions. This "snapback" option is seen as a longer-term solution, potentially post-US elections in November. It is widely believed that Washington appears to be stalling on Iran’s nuclear file – hoping to keep the status quo until the presidential election in November.
Adding to the diplomatic complexities is the recent death of Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash.
Unconfirmed reports this week surfaced that Ali Shamkhani, a hardliner and adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, may become the new chief nuclear negotiator.
Shamkhani has been known to oppose reviving the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), a stance highlighted by Mahmoud Vaezi, former chief of staff to President Hassan Rouhani.
As the IAEA board meeting approaches in June, it is highly probable that Iran will not be censured – and in parallel, continue to advance its nuclear program.
That leaves the next US administration, whether led by President Joe Biden or Donald Trump, to face an emboldened Iran with a significant stockpile of enriched uranium.