Iran is a rogue nuclear state that carried out illicit nuclear enrichment activities until the U.S. and Israel bombed its facilities and set back its program to construct a nuclear bomb by many months and perhaps years.
Just last week, Iran was referred to the United Nations Security Council by the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) over its "noncompliance with obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, including denying IAEA inspectors access to Iranian sites suspected of nuclear activities," according to Benny Avni of the New York Sun.
It's the first such action taken by the IAEA in 20 years.
Apparently, none of that matters to the international community. In a secret ballot, Iran was awarded a seat at the Vienna-based IAEA General Committee. "No less than 44 countries supported the Islamic Republic’s bid for the seat on Tuesday, while 35 opposed the move, and 42 abstained," Avni reports.
Winston Churchill had the proper epithet for those nations that supported Iran being seated on the IAEA General Committee. "Each one hopes that if he feeds the crocodile enough, the crocodile will eat him last."
“Despite U.S. efforts to obstruct Iran’s participation in the General Committee, IAEA Member States made their choice: they voted in favor of Iran," the Iranian mission to the UN posted on X.
“Electing Iran to the IAEA committee just days after its non-compliance was referred to the United Nations Security Council would be beyond shameful and an embarrassment to the credibility of this body,” the American ambassador to the IAEA, Preston Wells Griffith, said after the vote.
Unfortunately, the amoral UN does not feel "shame" for anything.
The IAEA move exposes a measure of schizophrenia in global bodies when it comes to Iran. While Tehran is openly defiant of international rules, its defenders, led by Russia and Communist China, are eager to accommodate the Islamic Republic’s standing at the UN and its subsidiaries, including the Vienna based UN watchdog.
“It appears 44 of Iran’s allies have given it a consolation prize for getting bombed,” a nuclear proliferation watcher at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Andrea Stricker, tells The New York Sun. Ms. Stricker said that Iran’s election to the IAEA committee was “largely procedural and limited.”
It doesn't matter if it was "largely procedural." The perception is that Iran scored a major victory over Israel and the U.S and that's worth more than any "limited" procedural designation when it undermines the entire credibility of the IAEA's enforcement power.
September 16 was the fourth anniversary of the death of the young Kurdish woman Masih Amini, who was murdered in police custody after being arrested for not wearing her hijab properly. Her death set off a wave of protests that resulted in almost 100 deaths and women all across Iran throwing off their head coverings.
“Today, on the fourth anniversary of Jina Mahsa Amini’s killing, we call on all nations to oppose the election of her murderer to this UN Committee dealing with women’s rights,” the president of UN Watch, Hillel Neuer, wrote on X Wednesday.
Ironically, the vote took place without Iran's representative to the IAEA. Austria refused to grant Mohammad Eslami a visa after the U.S. leaned on its ally.
Iran’s nuclear program, which President Trump often cites as reason for the war, is under increased scrutiny. Recent satellite images show increased activity at facilities like Pickaxe Mountain, where Iran is suspected of attempting to reinstitute its nuclear program that was set back by America and Israel last June. Hardline Tehran officials increasingly advocate exiting the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which would allow the regime to evade any scrutiny of its pursuit of atomic weapons.
The IAEA still can't inspect all the sites it wants to, and Pickaxe Mountain is at the top of the list. It's believed that's where Iran's thousands of advanced centrifuges were moved before the bombs fell. It's unclear if the U.S. can get to them, given the depth that our bombs would have to penetrate.
The other option is a special forces assault. Either way, Iran is not likely to get very far in constructing a nuclear bomb. The U.S. and Israel have expended too much energy and national prestige to see Iran succeed.
Editor’s Note: Thanks to President Trump and his administration’s bold leadership, we are once again respected on the world stage, and our enemies are being put on notice.
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