UN Nuclear Watchdog Referred Iran’s File to Security Council for the First Time in Decades

The International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) Board of Governors referred Iran's nuclear file to the Security Council for the first time in two decades.

IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said at Tuesday's UN Security Council meeting that Tehran continues refusing to give international inspectors access to its damaged nuclear facilities, hit last year during the war with Israel and the U.S.

Grossi went on to say that the IAEA will continue working with Tehran to clarify unresolved matters and that any path toward solving disputes must include inspections from the watchdog.

The development comes after Fars news agency, closely linked with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), claimed that Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei is urging for faster technological progress, including in the nuclear area.

Khamenei claimed that the "experience of the two recent wars has demonstrated to everyone that this new scientific surge must be deep and rapid," the outlet added.

The reported remarks come days after an Iranian lawmaker appeared to suggest that Khamenei could be more open to pursuing a nuclear weapon than his father, Ali Khamenei.

"From Mojtaba Khamenei's conduct, my understanding is that his fatwa will be different," Ahmad Naderi said, in reference to the doctrine from Ali Khamenei claiming Iran would not seek a nuclear weapon due to religious motives.

Elsewhere, Naderi expressed his own support for pursuing such a bomb, calling it the ultimate military deterrence.

Other reports have detailed that Mojtaba Khamenei is more open to developing a nuclear weapon than his late father, but other top officials repeatedly claimed Tehran does not seek it.

Earlier this month, Vice President JD Vance addressed the contrasting remarks, saying that if Iran wants to "show a commitment to not building a nuclear weapon, they would do something meaningful on their ​enrichment capacity."

"If you don't want a nuclear weapon, then why ​do you need 60% enriched fuel? And if you want to show commitment to not building a nuclear weapon, don't build highly enriched ⁠fuel. That's a very basic threshold issue," he added.

An unnamed senior officials told Reuters shortly after that the country will "never" give up the right to enrich uranium in exchange for a deal with the United States.