WASHINGTON — The United Nations nuclear watchdog’s governing board voted overwhelmingly Friday to censure Iran for its defiant nuclear policies and demanded an immediate halt to work on an uranium-enrichment plant built in secret in mountain tunnels south of the Iranian capital.
The declaration criticizing Iran — approved 25-3 by the 35-nation board, with six countries abstaining and one not present — was condemned by Iranian officials, who called the resolution “a historic mistake” and threatened to curtail the nation’s cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency.
The resolution represented a rare show of global solidarity against Iran’s nuclear program, drawing support not only from Western powers but also from Russia and China. Cuba, Malaysia and Venezuela opposed the measure.
Patience limited
“Our patience and that of the international community is limited,” Glyn T. Davies, the U.S. envoy to the U.N. agency, said after the vote at the IAEA’s Vienna headquarters. Obama administration officials had lobbied intensively to ensure strong backing for the resolution as a prelude to a possible fourth round of U.N. sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
The largely symbolic resolution berates Iran for its continued defiance of U.N. resolutions that demand a halt to uranium enrichment and other activities that U.S. officials believe are aimed at developing nuclear weapons.
The declaration is critical of Iran’s secret construction of a second enrichment plant inside mountain bunkers near the ancient city of Qom, southwest of Tehran.
Iran says it wants nuclear power only to make electricity.
Iran’s failure to notify the IAEA of the project was a “breach of its obligation” under U.N. treaties, the resolution states.
Security Council next
The most sweeping criticism of Iran’s nuclear program by the watchdog group in nearly four years, the resolution will be referred to the U.N. Security Council, which has the authority to enact tougher sanctions.
In Washington, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs hailed the vote as underscoring a commitment by the international community “to enforce the rules of the road, and to hold Iran accountable to those rules.”
Iran’s representative to the IAEA, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, suggested that Iran would stop some of its voluntary cooperation with the agency, according to a report Friday by the semi-official Fars news agency. It was unclear what specific steps, if any, the government would take in response.
Iranian analysts said that the government probably would not withdraw completely from the Non-Proliferation Treaty, which requires states to submit to international inspections, or shut down cameras that allow the IAEA to monitor activities at nuclear facilities in Iran.
The analysts said Iran might stop providing certain technical information about future plans for new nuclear sites, or make it more difficult for IAEA inspectors to obtain visas.
