The United States has called an emergency meeting of the U.N. atomic watchdog’s 35-nation Board of Governors to discuss Iran, the U.S. mission to the agency said on Friday, after Tehran breached its 2015 nuclear deal with major powers.
Any country on the board can call a meeting, and the International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed in a note to member states that the meeting would be held next Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. (1230 GMT) after the IAEA this week said Iran had exceeded the maximum stock of enriched uranium allowed under the deal.
Earlier, the U.S. mission in Vienna said in a statement that the American Ambassador to International Organizations Jackie Wolcott had requested the special meeting to discuss Iran’s breach of the amount of enriched uranium it could stockpile. Any country on the board can call a meeting.
Parties to the deal have a separate forum they meet in called the Joint Commission, and the deal lays out possible action that can be taken there. Washington pulled out of both the deal and the Joint Commission last year.
The IAEA confirmed earlier this week that Iran had breached the limit of 300 kg for stockpiles of enriched uranium as stipulated under the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
The IAEA is in charge of verifying the restrictions on Iran’s nuclear activities imposed by the deal, which also lifted international sanctions against Tehran. The IAEA has repeatedly said it is up to the parties to the deal to decide whether there has been a breach of its terms.
The U.S. statement described the news of the breach as “concerning. “The international community must hold Iran’s regime accountable,” the statement added.
