Is Joe Biden Blocking IAEA from Censoring Iran Due to the November Election?
According to a new Wall Street Journal article, the Biden administration is pressing the UK and France to drop its plan to censor Iran at next month’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors meeting over a significant increase in Iran’s production of near-weapon-grade enriched uranium.
According to a recent IAEA report, Iran increased its stockpile of 60% enriched uranium by 20.6 kg to 142.1 kg as of May 11, its highest level to date.
If enriched to weapons grade (90%), this would be enough enriched uranium to fuel about three nuclear weapons.
France and the UK want to censure Iran because this significant increase in enriched uranium production violates Iran’s obligations under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and related agreements with the IAEA.
It's not uncommon for Iran to evade being sanctioned at IAEA Board of Governors meetings. However, in the past, this has occurred because the U.S. and its European allies agreed to drop their sanctions resolution because Iran made a last-minute concession.
The U.S. and its allies declined to sanction Iran at the June 2023 Board of Governors meeting, reportedly due to a soon-to-be agreed secret nuclear agreement with the U.S. Iran was sanctioned at the June 2021 Board of Governors meeting, due to the discovery of weapons-grade uranium particles that Tehran refused to explain.
Efforts to censor Iran in the Board of Governors body usually are led by the United States.
This marks the first time that the United States has opposed an effort to censor Iran in the IAEA Board of Governors by other states.
According to The Wall Street Journal article, the Biden administration does not want Iran censored at the June 2024 IAEA meeting because of instability in Iran after the death of President Ebrahim Raisi, and because Biden officials still hope to negotiate a diplomatic solution to Iran’s growing nuclear program.
France and the UK disagree with the U.S. position because they believe that if the IAEA Board of Governors fails to take action on the increase in Iran’s production of near-weapons grade uranium, it will undermine the IAEA’s legitimacy and encourage more states to engage in covert nuclear weapons programs.
Given this significant increase in Iran’s uranium enrichment, Iran firing missiles at Israeli soil for the first time on April 13, and Iran’s active involvement in destabilizing the Mideast — especially its sponsorship of the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas terrorist attack against Israel — it's hard to understand why the Biden administration would not support censoring Iran at the June the IAEA Board of Governors meeting.
This is especially perplexing because European states usually prefer to respond to developments like this in Iran’s nuclear program with negotiations, not sanctions or censorship.
I see only one reason for the Biden administration’s opposition to censoring Iran over this major advance in its nuclear weapons program: the 2024 presidential election.
Biden officials fear that provoking Iran will cause instability that will make its foreign policy look even worse than it currently is viewed by most Americans.
They know Iran could respond to being censored by stepping up attacks by its proxies on U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria and against shipping in the Red Sea by the Houthi rebels.
I believe Biden officials are very worried that such new Iranian provocations will drive up gasoline prices in the run-up to the 2024 presidential election.
Possibly confirming this motivation, The Wall Street Journal article says that instead of censoring Iran at the IAEA meeting next month, the Biden administration may ask for a new IAEA report on Iran’s nuclear program after the November election.
This is not the first time we have seen feckless national security policies like this by the Biden administration to score political points at home.
President Biden’s also did this in 2022 when he released oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to lower gas prices before the 2022 midterm election.
Such policies by the Biden administration are national security malpractice that, combined with a failed foreign policy, have significantly undermined American deterrence around the world and emboldened our enemies.
This is why the world in 2024 is so much more unstable and dangerous than it was when Donald Trump left office in January 2021.
This is why it is crucial that America return to competent, America First national security policies next January.
Fred Fleitz is a Vice Chair of the America First Policy Institute’s Center for American Security and a Newsmax TV Contributor. He previously served as National Security Council Chief of staff, CIA analyst, and as a member of the House Intelligence Committee staff. Read more of his reports — Click Here Now.