The IAEA Board of Governors Closes the File on Potential Military Dimensions of Iran's Nuclear Program

On Tuesday, December 15, the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) passed a resolution that closes the case regarding allegations of Iran's efforts to develop nuclear weapons. For over a decade, the West had accused Iran of conducting tests within its nuclear activities to acquire knowledge on how to mount a nuclear warhead on its long-range missiles. The closure of the file on Iran's alleged studies is part of an agreement between the Islamic Republic and six world powers reached on July 14 this year in Vienna, under which Tehran agreed to suspend a large portion of its nuclear activities in exchange for the suspension or lifting of international sanctions against it. According to Tuesday's resolution by the Board of Governors, 12 previous resolutions passed between 2003 and 2012 regarding Iran's compliance with safeguards and alleged studies will be annulled. The action taken by the Board of Governors, which consists of 35 member countries, follows a report from the agency's director-general last month stating that Iran had previously worked on nuclear weapon projects. However, the report specified that Iran's activities had not gone beyond the research phase. Iranian officials, while rejecting attempts to build nuclear weapons, welcomed the overall report by Yukiya Amano. Tehran also emphasized that it would not implement practical measures within the framework of the Vienna agreement to reduce the number of centrifuges and the amount of enriched uranium it possesses until the file on alleged studies is closed. According to Reuters, the approval of the Board's resolution is a symbolic victory for Iran, but despite the closure of this file, agency inspectors will continue to monitor Tehran's nuclear program. A European diplomat behind closed doors at the Board meeting sent a text message saying, 'It’s done.' He added that the Board approved the resolution by consensus, meaning no country opposed it. This resolution requests the director-general of the agency to report to the Board and the UN Security Council whenever he feels there is a cause for concern. Supporters of the agreement between Iran and the six world powers believe that this agreement gives the agency more power to inspect nuclear facilities and monitor their activities, while also extending the timeline for Iran's potential acquisition of nuclear weapons. Henry Ensher, the U.S. representative to the agency, said in his speech at the Board on Tuesday, 'As we close this important chapter today, we must remain vigilant that the agency's hand will not be tied in investigating potential concerns that may arise.' However, some others outside the agency have raised the argument that Iran's past violations of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty have been sacrificed for the sake of the July Vienna agreement. The Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security stated that 'Iran's cooperation to close the military-nuclear studies file is certainly not enough.' The IAEA Board first sent Iran's case to the UN Security Council in 2006, and that council passed its first sanctions resolution against Tehran in July of that year, demanding the cessation of all nuclear activities and verification of them. The government of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's continuation of Iran's nuclear program paved the way for further UN resolutions that imposed crippling sanctions, halving Iran's oil revenues. With the rise of Hassan Rouhani's government in 2013, negotiations between Iran and the six world powers began to resolve this issue, culminating in the Vienna agreement after two years.