Today, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX) sent a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken urging the United States to seek a finding of non-compliance and refer Iran’s violations to the U.N. Security Council at the upcoming International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) Board of Governors meeting.
“Responding to Iran’s violations of its NPT-required Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement is crucial due to Iran’s dangerous and provocative nuclear escalation, including its failure to notify the IAEA of ‘substantial’ changes to some of its centrifuges and enrichment of uranium particles to 83.7% purity,” McCaul wrote. “… The credibility of the global non-proliferation system depends on the IAEA’s ability to successfully carry out its mandate of verifying the full scope of Iran’s nuclear activities.”
Iran’s continued violations of their NPT-required Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement, Russia’s suspension of New START, China’s dangerous nuclear expansion, and North Korea’s continued threats of nuclear war show that we must rethink our approach to non-proliferation and arms control. Protecting the credibility of the IAEA and the NPT is the first step.
The full text of the letter can be found here and below.
Dear Secretary Blinken,
I urge you to seek swift and significant action at the upcoming International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors meeting in response to Iran’s apparent noncompliance with its Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)-related commitments. Responding to Iran’s violations of its NPT-required Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement is crucial due to Iran’s dangerous and provocative nuclear escalation, including its failure to notify the IAEA of “substantial” changes to some of its centrifuges and enrichment of uranium particles to 83.7% purity.Iran is a signatory to the NPT, yet for years, Iran has violated its NPT-required Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement. Despite numerous pledges to resolve outstanding safeguards issues with the IAEA, Iran continues to stonewall IAEA investigators, refusing to provide timely, relevant, and technically credible answers in response to the IAEA’s ongoing probe into undeclared nuclear material and nuclear-related equipment found at multiple sites across Iran. In 2022, the Board of Governors adopted two resolutions urging Iran to cooperate with the probe, without a formal finding of noncompliance. These measures have proven to be insufficient to compel Iran to fulfill its own commitments to fully cooperate with the IAEA.
These issues are particularly urgent considering recent findings by IAEA investigators confirming Iran has made changes to some of its centrifuges to allow for higher levels of enrichment to take place at a faster rate and has enriched uranium particles to 83.7% purity, disturbingly close to weapons-grade. According to a senior U.S. official, Iran may now be capable of producing “one bomb’s worth of fissile material” in “about 12 days.
”Iran is testing the international community’s resolve with respect to its nuclear program. We must meet the moment and respond in a way that demonstrates both our ironclad commitment to preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and our determination to ensure that Iran fulfills its international legal obligations, pursuant to its NPT-required Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement. Iran must provide timely, relevant, and technically credible answers to the IAEA’s outstanding probe with respect to its nuclear program. The credibility of the global non-proliferation system depends on the IAEA’s ability to successfully carry out its mandate of verifying the full scope of Iran’s nuclear activities.For these reasons, I urge the administration to seek a formal finding of Iran’s noncompliance with its NPT-related Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement, and a referral of Iran to the United Nations Security Council at the upcoming IAEA Board of Governors meeting. Iran has tested our patience for far too long and must be held to account for its ongoing intransigence in order to maintain the integrity of the IAEA as an international organization.I thank you for your attention to this situation.
Original source can be found here.
