The board of the International Atomic Energy Agency voted on Wednesday to report Iran to the UN Security Council, the first such referral in two decades. The resolution cited Tehran’s failure to cooperate with a long-running investigation into uranium traces found at undeclared sites.
The measure was initiated by the United States, Germany, France and the United Kingdom. Inspectors have questioned Iran for years over particles detected at locations the country had not declared to the agency.
Western officials suspect the traces could point to a secret weapons programme that Iran ran until 2003. Tehran denies pursuing nuclear arms and maintains its programme is entirely peaceful.
Iran condemned the resolution, blaming US and Israeli strikes on its nuclear facilities for disrupting the work of inspectors. The government has argued that the damage from those attacks left it unable to grant the access the agency demanded.
The referral is largely symbolic in immediate terms but hands the Security Council a formal basis to take up the file. The last time the board referred Iran was in 2006, a step that preceded years of sanctions and negotiations.
The vote follows months of confrontation over Iran’s atomic sites. In March, the Security Council held an emergency session as tensions over the programme escalated, and military strikes continued through the summer.
The IAEA has said cooperation with Tehran deteriorated after the strikes, with inspectors losing regular access to key facilities. Iran has yet to provide answers the agency considers credible on the origin of the uranium particles.
The Security Council is expected to place the matter on its agenda in the coming weeks.