Iran withdraws resolution banning attacks on nuclear sites amid US threat

Iran decided at the last minute on Thursday to withdraw a resolution prohibiting attacks on nuclear facilities that it had put forward along with China, Russia and other countries for a vote before an annual gathering of the UN nuclear watchdog’s member nations.

Western diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, said the US has been heavily lobbying behind the scenes to prevent the resolution from being adopted. The US has raised the possibility of reducing funding to the International Atomic Energy Agency if the resolution was adopted and if the body moved to curtail Israel’s rights within the agency, the diplomats said.

In 1981, the provision of assistance to Israel under the IAEA’s technical assistance programme was suspended as a result of an Israeli strike on a nuclear reactor in Iraq. At the time, the attack was strongly condemned in resolutions by the United Nations Security Council, the IAEA General Conference and the IAEA Board of Governors.

The resolution withdrawal comes as US allies have started the clock on reimposing UN sanctions on Iran over it’s nuclear programme.

Addressing the IAEA’s General Conference late on Thursday, Iran’s Ambassador to the UN Reza Najafi announced that “guided by the spirit of goodwill and constructive engagement, and at the request of several member states”, it deferred action on the draft until next year’s conference.

Israel targeted Iranian nuclear and military sites in June, saying it could not allow Tehran to develop atomic weapons and that it feared the Islamic republic was close. The US inserted itself into the war on June 22, striking three Iranian nuclear facilities. Iran has long maintained that its nuclear programme is peaceful.