ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iran on Thursday rejected a “political” resolution by the United Nations nuclear watchdog's board that escalated Tehran's case to the Security Council, for the first time in two decades, over “non-compliance” in its nuclear reporting obligations.
Iranian First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref framed the decision by the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) Board of Governors against Tehran's “peaceful nuclear program” as “the epitome of double standards in today's world.”
“Those who threaten our infrastructure and civilization possess no standing to judge,” he said, adding that “the Iranian nation stands firm on its legal rights and peaceful nuclear energy strategy.”
The resolution, drafted and championed by the United States and the E3 - France, Germany and the United Kingdom - said Iran has yet to “provide technically credible explanations for the presence of uranium particles of anthropogenic origin at undeclared locations” and to “satisfy its obligations” under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons' Safeguards Agreement.
It urged Tehran to “cooperate fully” with the IAEA “including by granting prompt and unhindered access to all requested locations, equipment, and documentation, and by reversing its withdrawal of inspector designations,” reiterating the agency's “lack of information regarding nuclear materials, including stocks enriched up to 60 percent” which “poses serious proliferation concerns and requires urgent verification to re-establish continuity of knowledge.”
Crucially, the decision requested that IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi “report this resolution and the previously adopted resolutions to all Members of the Agency and to the Security Council and the General Assembly of the United Nations, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the IAEA Statute.”
Of the 35-member Board of Governors, 23 countries on Wednesday voted in favor - including the US and the E3 - eight abstained, and three voted against: China, Russia and Niger.
Iran's permanent mission to the UN on Wednesday criticized "expectations for routine implementation of safeguards," arguing that "such demands are unreasonable given the continued threats and hostilities targeting the country."
In an explanatory note submitted to the UN after the vote, carried by the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), the mission said the "IAEA itself has previously suspended verification activities and withdrawn inspectors from Iran due to prevailing conditions," and criticized Grossi for "omitting" references to attacks on its nuclear facilities.
Israel in mid-June 2025 during the 12-day war with Iran struck above-ground enrichment laboratories, conversion plants and centrifuge workshops in Natanz, Isfahan, Karaj and Arak. Later that month, the US carried out Operation Midnight Hammer, targeting buried enrichment complexes at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan.
Earlier this year, the US and Israel in late February launched a widescale aerial campaign striking thousands of targets across Iran, including remaining nuclear infrastructure, military installations, and command networks.
The Iranian mission said the "current obstacles to safeguards implementation stem from unlawful actions by the US and Israel," and that "Tehran bears no responsibility for these impediments." It added that Grossi and the IAEA ought to "set aside political approaches, return to their legal mandates, and explicitly condemn attacks on peaceful nuclear facilities operating under safeguards."
Of note, the Wednesday resolution built on a previous resolution by the Board, adopted in mid-June 2025 and also drafted by the US and E3, that found Iran had not fully cooperated with the IAEA and accused Tehran of "repeatedly failing to offer technically credible explanations" for uranium traces discovered at undeclared sites, as well as for the "whereabouts of nuclear material and contaminated equipment."
It further stated that Iran "did not declare nuclear material and nuclear-related activities" at three locations - Lavisan-Shian, Varamin, and Turquzabad - calling this "a significant impediment to the Agency's ability to clarify and verify... the exclusively peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear programme."
The June 2025 decision followed a detailed IAEA report earlier that month, which found that Iran had continued undeclared nuclear activities and significantly increased its stockpile of enriched uranium.
Iran had also dismissed the latter resolution as "politicized" and slammed the report it was based on as an overreach by Grossi, accusing him of breaching the Agency's duty of impartiality. Later that month, the Iranian parliament approved a bill to suspend the country's cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog.
