Iran is back before the UN Security Council

The UN nuclear watchdog’s board has voted to report Iran to the Security Council, the first such referral in 20 years.

The vote followed Iran’s failure to cooperate with the agency’s long-running investigation into uranium traces found at undeclared sites. Twenty-three of the 35 board members backed the US, Britain, France and Germany’s resolution.

It is a real diplomatic escalation around the nuclear part of the war, even though any new Security Council penalties would face the likely opposition of Russia and China.