Key points
- Statement came at UN Security Council meeting
- Iran has denied any intention to build nuclear weapons
- Iran is rapidly increasing its uranium enrichment to 60pc purity: IAEA
ISLAMABAD: On March 12, at the United Nations, Britain issued a warning that it would reimpose UN sanctions on Iran if necessary to prevent the country from “developing nuclear weapons”.
This statement came as the UN Security Council met to address Iran’s “growing stockpile” of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels, according to Reuters.
Iran has denied any intention to build nuclear weapons.
Still, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has reported that Iran is “rapidly increasing” its uranium enrichment to 60 per cent purity, which is close to the 90 per cent required for weapons.
Western nations argue that no civilian nuclear programme needs uranium enriched to such a high level and that no other country has done so without eventually pursuing atomic weapons, according to the Jerusalem Post.
Peaceful purposes
Iran maintains that its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes.
“We are clear that we will take any diplomatic measures to prevent Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon, that includes the use of snapback (of sanctions), if needed,” Britain’s deputy UN Ambassador James Kariuki told reporters ahead of the meeting.
The closed-door meeting was called by six of the council’s 15 members – the US, France, Greece, Panama, South Korea and Britain.
Iran’s UN mission accused the United States of trying to weaponise the UN Security Council “to escalate economic warfare against Iran,” adding in a post on X: “This dangerous abuse must be rejected to protect the council’s credibility.”
Today, the UN Security Council holds a private meeting on the alleged “expansion of Iran’s nuclear program”! The U.S.—the chief violator of JCPOA & UNSCR 2231—is leading this charge. Washington openly seeks to weaponize the UNSC to escalate economic warfare against Iran. This…
— I.R.IRAN Mission to UN, NY (@Iran_UN) March 12, 2025
Highly enriched uranium
The US mission to the UN said in a statement after the council meeting that Iran was “the only country in the world without nuclear weapons producing highly enriched uranium, for which it has no credible peaceful purpose.”
It also accused Iran of defying the Security Council and violating IAEA rules and obligations, calling on the council to “be clear and united in addressing and condemning this brazen behavior.”
Last month, US President Donald Trump reintroduced a maximum pressure strategy against Iran to prevent Tehran from developing nuclear weapons. However, he also expressed openness to a potential deal and a willingness to engage in talks with Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian.
Trump sent a letter to Iran proposing nuclear negotiations, which was delivered on Wednesday. However, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei dismissed the idea of negotiations.
Trilateral meeting
Meanwhile, China’s foreign ministry announced that it would host a meeting in Beijing on Friday with Russia and Iran to discuss the Iranian “nuclear issue,” with both nations sending their deputy foreign ministers.
“We still hope that we can seize the limited time we have before the termination date in October this year, in order to have a deal, a new deal so that the JCPOA can be maintained,” China’s UN Ambassador Fu Cong told reporters ahead of the Security Council meeting.
“Putting maximum pressure on a certain country is not going to achieve the goal,” he said.
Iran reached a deal in 2015 with Britain, Germany, France, the US, Russia and China – known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action – that lifted sanctions on Tehran in return for restrictions on its nuclear program.
Quitting JCPOA
Washington withdrew from the agreement in 2018 during Trump’s first term as US president, leading Iran to begin stepping back from its nuclear-related obligations.
On October 18, the 2015 UN resolution on the deal will expire, and Britain, France, and Germany will lose the ability to trigger the so-called snapback of international sanctions on Iran.
According to Reuters, Trump has instructed his UN diplomats to collaborate with allies to reinstate international sanctions and restrictions on Iran. Under the complex two-month dispute resolution process of the JCPOA, the European parties to the agreement effectively have until early August to initiate the snapback of UN sanctions on Iran.
