BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 13. Iran has protested the actions of three European countries— the UK, France, and Germany— in response to their call for a closed-door session at the UN Security Council concerning Iran's nuclear program, Trend reports citing the Iranian Foreign Ministry.
According to the Ministry, the ambassadors of the three European countries were summoned to express Iran's strong objections and communicate several points.
Iran emphasized that its peaceful nuclear program is entirely in accordance with its rights under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and its monitoring obligations. It was further stated that Iran's nuclear activities have never gone beyond the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which allows Iran to halt its obligations in case the other parties fail to uphold their commitments.
Iran also made clear that there is no technical or legal basis for holding a closed-door session at the UN Security Council regarding Iran's nuclear program, labeling the move as a step in line with US objectives.
The Ministry conveyed that the European ambassadors’ support for the US request to hold a session at the Security Council is seen as aligning with actions taken by the US after its withdrawal from the JCPOA in 2018, violating UN Security Council Resolution 2231, and leading to subsequent processes that contradict the agreement.
The Ministry also pointed out that the recent meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors, where countries voiced their positions on Iran’s nuclear issue, makes the call for a Security Council session an unwarranted interference in the IAEA’s technical responsibilities. Such actions, Iran argued, harm the normal cooperation between Iran and the Agency.
On January 16, 2016, the JCPOA came into force between Iran and the P5+1 group (US, Russia, China, the UK, France, and Germany) regarding Iran’s nuclear program. However, on May 8, 2018, the US withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) between Iran and the 5+1 group (Russia, China, the UK, France, the US, and Germany) and imposed new sanctions on Iran starting from November 2018.
By the end of 2020, the Iranian parliament decided to pursue a strategic plan in the nuclear sector to counter the sanctions, leading to a suspension of additional steps and the Additional Protocol as per the nuclear agreement.
Consequently, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) faced a reduction in monitoring capabilities by 20–30 percent.
Iran has officially affirmed that its strategy is not to pursue the development of an atomic bomb and that it does not support the production of weapons of mass destruction.
On February 14, the IAEA Director General Grossi reported that Iran is increasing the amount of uranium enriched to 60 percent by nearly seven times. In the coming weeks, Iran’s stock of 60 percent enriched uranium is expected to reach around 250 kilograms. Iran remains the only non-nuclear weapon state to enrich uranium to this level, a development that has raised international concerns.
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