A resolution calling on Iran to give access to two of its atomic sites to International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors, presented by Germany, France, and England, was eventually passed on June 19, 2020, enjoying a good majority of the votes (25 countries, aye; 7 abstentions; Russia and China, nay; and Paraguay was absent). 

That's good, because Iran is suspected of carrying out nuclear activities at these two sites in the 2000s in order to obtain nuclear weapons.

Tehran tried to prevent its approval by any means — using both carrots and sticks — because it was horrified at what the outcome of its passage would be.

More evidence of a change of course by the Europeans toward the Iranian regime can be found in a statement made by the same three that underlines the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons.  It reads in part: "We believe that revocation of the arms embargo against Iran in October will provoke complications in the security and stability of the region.  We remind that the EU's sanctions on [Iran's] conventional weaponry and [its] missile technology will stay put till 2023."

At a conference last week at the office of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) in Washington, D.C., the former deputy of the IAEA and former head of the agency's inspectors in Iran, Olli Heinonen, being well familiar with the Iranian regime's covert projects and how it whitewashes them, stated: "The Iran regime has not only increased the number of IR2 and IR4 centrifuges but has also produced a ton of 4.5% enriched Uranium.  This amount, if enriched up to 90%, is enough for producing one atomic bomb."

Early reactions and positions were taken by the Iranian regime's foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, and the regime's representative in Vienna, Kazem Gharib-Abadi, points to this regime being bewildered and weakened by its political dead end.

Zarif said: "We will not let the IAEA turn into a tool in Trump's hands to destroy JCPOA (Iran deal)."

Gharib-Abadi called the resolution "deeply disappointing" and said the issue of inspection is "vague and worrisome."  This representative threatened that this resolution "neither incites us to give access to IAEA nor puts any pressure on us."

Tehran, predicting the resolution's agreement, had accused the U.S. of pursuing its ratification with the intention of inducing the IAEA's governing council to follow U.S. policy, even though it had left the JCPOA.  In that way, Tehran wanted to prevent the inspection of its suspicious sites.

As the appeasement policy is now a defeated one and, as a result, Tehran is internationally isolated, it has to yield to this resolution otherwise it will have to face great international consequences, the most important and imminent one being continuation of the arms embargo.

Entangled as it is in critical economic conditions and the lethal coronavirus catastrophe, Tehran tries to control an explosive society with suppression.  The supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, wasting all the privileges that the JCPOA had for him in exporting terrorism, warmongering, and suppression, sees no light at the end of this tunnel.

He must now decide which international roadmap to take: permit the IAEA inspectors to have access to these two sites, or face the continuation of the arms embargo.

The result of the recent session of the governing council is influential in determining the next step that both the Iranian regime and the international community will take — decisions that will lead to the continuation or abolition of the Iranian regime's arms embargo at the U.N. Security Council.

Hassan Mahmoudi is a social analyst and researcher and an independent observer and commentator on the Middle East and Iran.

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