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IAEA Board Passes Resolution Chiding Iran on Uranium Trace

FILE - An inspector of the International Atomic Energy Agency sets up surveillance equipment, at the Uranium Conversion Facility of Iran, just outside the city of Isfahan, Iran, Aug. 8, 2005. (AP Photo/Mehdi Ghasemi, ISNA, File )
FILE - An inspector of the International Atomic Energy Agency sets up surveillance equipment, at the Uranium Conversion Facility of Iran, just outside the city of Isfahan, Iran, Aug. 8, 2005. (AP Photo/Mehdi Ghasemi, ISNA, File )
    Vienna - London - Tehran - Raghida Bahnam and Asharq Al-Awsat
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IAEA Board Passes Resolution Chiding Iran on Uranium Trace

FILE - An inspector of the International Atomic Energy Agency sets up surveillance equipment, at the Uranium Conversion Facility of Iran, just outside the city of Isfahan, Iran, Aug. 8, 2005. (AP Photo/Mehdi Ghasemi, ISNA, File )
FILE - An inspector of the International Atomic Energy Agency sets up surveillance equipment, at the Uranium Conversion Facility of Iran, just outside the city of Isfahan, Iran, Aug. 8, 2005. (AP Photo/Mehdi Ghasemi, ISNA, File )

The Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency that includes 35 members has made an overwhelming majority vote to criticize Iran for a lack of cooperation with the UN nuclear inspectorate.

The resolution on Wednesday criticized Iran for failing to explain uranium traces found at three undeclared sites.

Only two countries, Russia and China, opposed the text while 30 voted in favor and three – Libya, Pakistan and India - abstained.

The text says the board "expresses profound concern" the traces remain unexplained due to insufficient cooperation by Iran and calls on Iran to engage with the watchdog "without delay".

“We are not taking this action to escalate a confrontation for political purposes. We seek no such escalation,” said US Ambassador Laura S.H. Holgate in a statement delivered at the board meeting in Vienna.

“The Board of Governors has a responsibility to take appropriate action in support of the Director General, the Secretariat, and the international safeguards regime to hold Iran accountable to its safeguards obligations. Iran must cooperate with the IAEA to allow it to fulfill its verification and monitoring mandate without further delay.”

Asked whether the IAEA decision would affect the talks held in Vienna to revive the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, a Western diplomat told Asharq Al-Awsat that the negotiations have been deadlocked since March despite the efforts exerted by the European Union, which is acting as a mediator between Tehran and the US.

Iran turned off two surveillance devices Wednesday used by UN inspectors to monitor its uranium enrichment. The move appeared to be a new pressure technique just before the IAEA’s Board of Governors meeting.

After the vote, a joint statement from France, Germany, and the UK and the US said the censure “sends an unambiguous message to Iran that it must meet its safeguards obligations and provide technically credible clarifications on outstanding safeguards issues.”

Iran's Foreign Ministry criticized the censure as a “political, incorrect and unconstructive action.”

An Iranian official earlier warned IAEA officials that Tehran was now considering taking “other measures” as well.

“We hope that they come to their senses and respond to Iran’s cooperation with cooperation,” said Behrouz Kamalvandi, a spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran. “It is not acceptable that they show inappropriate behavior while Iran continues to cooperate.”

Meanwhile, Iran's state TV reported on Wednesday that Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said that Tehran has presented a new proposal to Washington to revive the 2015 nuclear deal.

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Venezuela's Maduro to Be Sworn in for Third Term as Opposition Leader Vows to Return

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro speaks during a celebration with the Three Kings in Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas on January 6, 2025. (Photo by Juan BARRETO / AFP)
Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro speaks during a celebration with the Three Kings in Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas on January 6, 2025. (Photo by Juan BARRETO / AFP)
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Venezuela's Maduro to Be Sworn in for Third Term as Opposition Leader Vows to Return

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro speaks during a celebration with the Three Kings in Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas on January 6, 2025. (Photo by Juan BARRETO / AFP)
Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro speaks during a celebration with the Three Kings in Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas on January 6, 2025. (Photo by Juan BARRETO / AFP)

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, whose nearly 12 years in office have been marked by a deep economic and social crisis, is set to be sworn in for a third term on Friday, staying in power despite a six-month-long dispute over a July election and international calls for him to stand aside.
Maduro, president since 2013, was declared the winner of July's election by both Venezuela's electoral authority and top court, though detailed tallies confirming his victory have never been published, Reuters said.
Venezuela's opposition says ballot box-level tallies show a landslide win for its former candidate Edmundo Gonzalez, who is recognized as president-elect by several governments including the United States. International election observers said the vote was unfair.
The months since the election have seen Gonzalez's flight to Spain in September, his ally Maria Corina Machado going into hiding in Venezuela, and the detentions of high-profile opposition figures and protesters.
Gonzalez, who has been on a whistle-stop tour of the Americas this week, has said he will return to Venezuela to take up the mantle of president, but has given no details.
The government, which has accused the opposition of fomenting fascist plots against it, has said Gonzalez will be arrested if he returns and offered a $100,000 reward for information leading to his capture.
Both Gonzalez and Machado are being investigated by the attorney general's office for alleged conspiracy, but only Gonzalez has a public warrant out for his arrest.
Machado's first public appearance since August at an anti-government march in Caracas on Thursday was marred by a brief detention.
Her Vente Venezuela political movement said guns were fired and Machado was knocked off the motorcycle on which she was leaving the event. She was then held and forced to film several videos, it said.
"I am now in a safe place and with more determination than ever before to continue with you until the end!" Machado - who was barred from running in the election - said in a post on X after her release.
The government scoffed at the incident and denied any involvement, saying the opposition had orchestrated it to generate support for Machado.
REPRESSION AND SANCTIONS
The opposition, non-governmental organizations and international bodies such as the United Nations have for years decried increasing repression of opposition political parties, activists and independent media in Venezuela.
US President-elect Donald Trump has said the country is being run by a dictator.
Meanwhile the government has repeatedly accused the opposition of plotting with foreign governments and agencies including the Central Intelligence Agency to commit acts of sabotage and terrorism.
The government said this week it had detained seven "mercenaries," including a high-ranking FBI official and a US military official.
Venezuela's economy has experienced a prolonged crisis marked by triple-digit inflation and the exodus of more than 7 million migrants seeking better opportunities abroad.
Many of Machado's supporters, among them retired Venezuelans who would like to see their children and grandchildren return to the country, say jobs, inflation and unreliable public services are among their top concerns.
The government, meanwhile, has employed orthodox methods to try and tamp down inflation, to some success, and has blamed economic collapse on sanctions by the United States and others, especially restrictions on the nation's key oil industry.
Maduro and his allies have cheered what they say is the country's resilience despite the measures, and Maduro said this month that the economy grew 9% last year.
His first act of his new term will be to call for a constitutional reform, Maduro said on Wednesday, though he provided no details.
About 2,000 people, including teenagers, were arrested at protests following the election. The government said this week it has released 1,515 of them. Gonzalez, 75, said his son-in-law was kidnapped on Tuesday while taking his children to school.