Western Powers Avoid Resolution against Iran at IAEA Board - Diplomats

Britain, France, Germany and the United States will not push for a resolution against Iran at next week's meeting of the U.N. nuclear watchdog's board despite Tehran's failure to explain uranium traces found at three sites, diplomats said on Friday. A resolution could have prompted an escalation between Tehran and the West that would have jeopardized talks on reviving the 2015 nuclear deal taking place in Vienna, where the atomic watchdog is also based.

At the last quarterly meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-nation Board of Governors, the three European powers, with U.S. backing, prepared a draft resolution criticizing Iran but did not formally submit it as IAEA chief Rafael Grossi announced new talks.  Those talks - aimed at breathing new life into efforts to get Iran to explain the origin of the traces, which are believed to be linked to activities long predating the deal - failed to produce new explanations, the IAEA reported on Monday. That raised the question of whether the resolution would be revived.

"The May 31 report can't be ignored just because the JCPOA talks are ongoing, but a resolution is not likely now," one diplomat said, referring to the 2015 deal by its official name, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. Five other diplomats said there would not be a resolution but simply statements by countries on the board. "There need to be strong statements," said one diplomat from a country that backed a resolution at the last board meeting. "They (Iran) have obligations and they need to fulfil them." It remains unclear whether a resolution would have had the necessary support to be adopted by the board, the IAEA's main decision-making body that meets more than once a year. Indirect talks between Iran and the United States on both countries returning to full compliance with the deal will resume next week, with an election on June 18 likely to usher in a more hard-line Iranian president. "No progress has been made in the dialogue between Iran and the agency with respect to providing substantiated answers to the IAEA's questions," a French foreign ministry spokeswoman said, expressing "great concern" at the IAEA's report on Monday.
"We strongly urge Iran to provide such answers as swiftly as possible," she added.

The United States expects to have a sixth round of indirect talks on reviving compliance with the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and probably more, U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price said on Thursday. The European Union envoy coordinating the talks on Wednesday said he believed a deal would be struck at the next round starting next week, but other senior diplomats have said the most difficult decisions still lie ahead. Price said hurdles remained after the fifth round of talks that concluded on Wednesday and offered a more cautious outlook than the EU official, even as he did not rule out the possibility of an agreement in the next round. "We expect there will be a sixth. I think there's just about every expectation that there will be subsequent rounds beyond that," Price told reporters. He said the hurdles included the fact that the talks are indirect - Iran refuses direct discussions with the United States - and the issues complex. "There is no lack of distrust between and among Iran and the other partners and allies with whom we're working on this," he added. Former U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from the deal in 2018, arguing it gave Iran excessive sanctions relief for inadequate nuclear curbs. U.S. President Joe Biden wants to restore the pact's nuclear limits and, if possible, extend them. - Reuters