Sorry to step into the March stories, but this is a pretty big development:
Nuclear watchdog refers Iran to Security Council
The U.N. nuclear watchdog passed a resolution on Saturday requiring that Iran be reported to the Security Council for failing to convince the international community that its nuclear programme was entirely peaceful.
The International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) governing board approved the resolution despite threats by Iran to begin enriching uranium and curtail IAEA inspections.
(…)
With 22 votes for, one against and 12 abstentions, the outcome also highlighted the split between Western nations and others such as Russia, China and South Africa, which disagree with the EU three and Washington on how to deal with Iran.
Le Monde notes that the lack of a date in the resolution means that nothing will happen until the next meeting of the council of governors of the IAEA in November – i.e. negotiations continue. Interestingly, the only negative vote comes from Venezuela, with India voting with the Europeans and Americans. It is nevertheless very unusual for the IAEA decisions to come to a vote, so both sides can claim victory (the Europeans, that the resolution was approved, and the iranians, that it was watered down and not unanimous). The resolution does formally note that the numerous violations and breaches by Iran of its obligations constitute a case of non-respect of the NPT and deserve to be brough to the Security Council.
At this point, both sides can claim victory, which means that diplomacy have prevailed, which sounds like a good thing…
