U.S., Europe Split on Response to Iran’s Near-Weapons-Grade Nuclear Enrichment

Wall Street Journal

March 2nd 2023

The U.S. and its European allies have split over the response to Iran’s production of near-weapons-grade uranium, with Britain, France and Germany favoring a public censure of Tehran while the Biden administration is reluctant to do that, according to diplomats involved in the discussions.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said this week that Iran had produced particles of enriched uranium of around 84% in recent weeks, just shy of the roughly 90% needed for weapons-grade nuclear fuel.

The production of weapons-grade material could spark a crisis over Tehran’s nuclear program. European diplomats say it could be the trigger to kill off the 2015 nuclear deal. Israeli officials have signaled that weapons-grade enrichment is a red line, although they haven’t publicly set out what their response would be. Washington has long warned Iran against crossing that threshold.

The IAEA has said discussions with Tehran on what happened are continuing and officials close to the agency have said they can’t say with certainty whether Iran’s production was accidental or intentional. Tehran says the production of the 84% enriched uranium was unintended.

This week’s IAEA report said that Iran wasn’t stockpiling near-weapons-grade material and that it was still producing 60% enriched uranium at Fordow, a high but less dangerous level.

When the incident was first reported in the media, European officials warned that the enrichment of uranium at that level would be “an unprecedented and extremely grave development.”

Britain, France and Germany wanted to formally censure Iran at an IAEA board of governors meeting next week by passing a resolution calling out Iran’s nuclear activities, the diplomats said.

The board could refer the matter to the United Nations Security Council but hasn’t done so on previous occasions when Iran has been censured.

However, U.S. officials are arguing against a rebuke although a final decision hasn’t yet been taken. Washington wants to see what the agency concludes about the production of the material. IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi is headed to Tehran on Thursday.

They also note that Iran was censured at the IAEA board’s last meeting in November. The European countries are unlikely to push a resolution without Washington’s support.

In a press briefing on Wednesday, State Department spokesman Ned Price said Washington was “going to continue to consult very closely with our partners to do what we believe will be most effective” to address Iran’s nuclear challenge ahead of the IAEA board meeting.

The U.S. and its partners could call an extraordinary IAEA board meeting at some future point if the agency came to a clear conclusion about whether Iran intended to produce the material.

In the past, Iran has reacted angrily to formal rebukes at the board, stepping up its nuclear work or restricting the oversight of IAEA inspectors in response.

The dispute comes as worries grow about Iran’s nuclear ambitions, while the prospects of reviving the 2015 deal—which lifted most international sanctions on Tehran in exchange for tight but temporary limits on its activities—appear slight.

In Munich last month, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his British, French and German counterparts tasked senior officials to consider what diplomatic options existed for stopping Tehran from advancing its program.

U.S. and European diplomats say fresh talks for reviving the 2015 nuclear deal aren’t currently on the agenda given Iran’s brutal crackdown on antigovernment protesters and its support for Russia’s war in Ukraine.

It isn’t the first time the U.S. and its European partners have diverged over how to handle Iran’s nuclear program. Senior European negotiators left the Vienna negotiations on reviving the nuclear deal last March while the U.S. and Iran were still talking, frustrated that Washington and Tehran wouldn’t close a deal.