VIENNA, Austria: The United Nations' nuclear watchdog has referred Iran to the U.N. Security Council for the first time in 20 years, accusing Tehran of failing to cooperate with a long-running investigation into traces of uranium found at sites that Iran had not declared to inspectors.

Western countries believe the uranium traces could be evidence that Iran secretly worked on a nuclear weapons program until 2003. Iran has consistently denied seeking nuclear weapons and says its nuclear activities are entirely for peaceful purposes.

The referral to the Security Council could expose Iran to sanctions and the freezing of its assets. However, such measures are considered unlikely because Russia and China, both allies of Iran, have veto power on the council.

The decision was taken at the International Atomic Energy Agency's headquarters in Vienna on September 9. Twenty-three of the 35 members of the IAEA Board of Governors voted in favor of the resolution.

China, Russia and Niger voted against it. Eight countries abstained, while one country did not vote because it was behind on its financial contributions, diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The United States, Britain, France and Germany proposed the resolution.

The issue has been under discussion since June 2025, when the IAEA board formally found Iran in breach of its nonproliferation obligations because it failed to cooperate with the investigation into the unexplained uranium traces.

Iran's ambassador to the U.N. in Vienna, Reza Najafi, rejected the latest resolution. He described it as a political move and argued that it had damaged confidence in the IAEA's independence, impartiality and credibility.

Najafi also said Iran could not realistically meet demands for international inspections of some nuclear facilities while the country remained involved in an ongoing war with the United States and Israel.

The draft resolution, reviewed by The Associated Press, asked IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi to report the agency's concerns to both the Security Council and the U.N. General Assembly under the relevant provisions of the IAEA's founding statute.

It also repeated the IAEA's demand that Iran urgently correct its previous failures to meet its obligations. The resolution called for steps that the agency considers necessary to ensure that nuclear material is not diverted from peaceful uses.

Since Israel and the United States attacked Iran's nuclear facilities during a 12-day war in June 2025, IAEA inspectors have not been given access to the nuclear sites affected by the strikes.

The agency has also been unable to independently verify what happened to Iran's stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels following the June attacks.

Najafi argued that continued American and Israeli airstrikes had made safe access to Iran's nuclear facilities impossible in practical terms. He maintained that Iran had not stopped or suspended its safeguards commitments but said it was currently unable to carry them out fully because of ongoing military operations and continuing threats.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi made a similar argument in a post on X. He accused the United States and Israel of attacking nuclear facilities that were under international safeguards and disrupting the normal inspection process, before using that disruption as a reason to take action against Iran at the IAEA.

The IAEA says Iran currently has 440.9 kilograms, or about 972 pounds, of uranium enriched to 60 percent purity. That level is considerably higher than the enrichment normally needed for civilian nuclear power but remains below the 90 percent level generally associated with weapons-grade uranium.

While IAEA chief Rafael Grossi warned that the size of Iran's stockpile could potentially provide enough material for as many as 10 nuclear weapons, he stressed that having enough enriched uranium does not mean it already possessed a nuclear weapon.