Nuclear weapons & arms control

Assessment

The IAEA Board of Governors voted 23 to 3 with eight abstentions on Sept 9 to refer Iran to the UN Security Council for safeguards non-compliance, the first such referral in 20 years, on a text tabled by Britain, France, Germany and the United States; Russia, China and Niger voted against and Iran's ambassador in Vienna dismissed the resolution as politically driven. Director General Grossi told the Board on Sept 7 that the Agency has had no access to declared Iranian facilities since June and has lost continuity of knowledge over the declared low-enriched and 60 percent stockpiles for more than a year, with more than 9,000 kg of enriched uranium inaccessible at Natanz, Fordow and Isfahan. No binding US-Russia numerical limits have applied since New START expired on Feb 5, North Korea declared its nuclear-weapon status irreversible at the Ninth Party Congress, and Golden Dome's space-based interceptor layer is funded at 37.8 billion dollars. Punitive Security Council action on the referred file is likely to be blocked by Russian and Chinese vetoes, and nothing had moved on the file in Vienna or New York as of Sept 15.