Major European nations engaged in talks to revive the Iran nuclear agreement, meanwhile, adopted a harder position on the "very alarming context" of Tehran's activities.
Nicolas de Rivière, the Permanent Representative of France to the UN, Barbara Woodward, the representative of the United Kingdom, and Antje Leedertse, the German ambassador, all released a statement affirming that the Council was closely monitoring the threat posed by Iran's nuclear escalation to global security.
“Iran has been taking unprecedented steps to accelerate the pace of its nuclear program in the past three years and continues to escalate unabatedly,” the E3 statement said.
“Some of the most serious steps have been taken during the negotiation process aimed at returning Iran to full implementation" of JCPOA and the US to the deal, it added.
“We regret that up until now Iran has refused to seize this diplomatic opportunity and continued its nuclear escalation,” said the diplomats in their statement.
“Recently, Iran announced the installation and use of additional powerful advanced centrifuges and the removal of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s JCPOA-related surveillance and monitoring equipment.”
“This occurs in the deeply concerning context of Iran continuing to increase its stockpiles of uranium enriched at 20% and 60% to unprecedented levels.”
“The IAEA received its mandate to verify and monitor JCPOA implementation directly from the UN Security Council.”
“Iran’s complete termination of key JCPOA-related transparency measures is, therefore, a particularly negative, counterproductive and provocative step, which this Council cannot remain silent on.”
“Iran’s actions are rapidly unsettling the balance of the package we had negotiated over many months to restore the JCPOA and closing the window for an immediate diplomatic solution.”
The statement issued a warning that the consequences of such a result would be "grave and long lasting" for both global security and the international non-proliferation framework.
The diplomats then urged Iran to halt and reverse its nuclear expansion, resume complete cooperation with the IAEA, and accept the offer on the table as soon as possible in order to benefit the Iranian people and country.
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