Iran accused the US and its European allies of misusing the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for their own narrow geopolitical objectives, eroding its credibility and paving the way for the ultimate collapse of the international non-proliferation regime.
The Islamic Republic’s response on Wednesday, 9 September, followed the adoption of a resolution by the IAEA Board of Governors, which accused it of non-compliance with its safeguard regulations and referred Iran to the UN Security Council for further action.
The resolution, drafted jointly by the US, the UK, France, and Germany, was adopted. A majority of 23 countries voted in favour, and eight others abstained. China, Russia, and Niger voted against the resolution.
Thanks to the resolution, for which the US and its European allies lobbied aggressively, forcing several countries to vote in favour, Iran has been referred to the UNSC for the first time in over 20 years.
The resolution asks Iran to immediately start complying with IAEA regulations and resume inspections of its nuclear facilities, with the IAEA chief Rafael Grossi expressing concerns about lack of clarity about the fate of Iran’s enriched uranium and the conditions of its nuclear facilities since the beginning of the war.
Iran has denied any violation of the IAEA safeguards, pointing out that regular inspections of its nuclear facilities were suspended after the IAEA withdrew its inspectors due to safety concerns during the 12 days of US-Israeli bombings in June 2025.
Iran has also claimed that the IAEA demands for the immediate resumption of inspections of its nuclear sites and expecting the implementation of normal safeguards amidst the ongoing war are “materially impractical” and “irrational.”
It also accused the IAEA of failing to do its work properly and exposing without any need “highly confidential information regarding the nature and whereabouts of Iran‘s nuclear stockpiles” without prior consent, Press TV reported.
Political resolution
Iran accused the resolution of being politically motivated and biased. It further described it as yet another attempt by the US and Israel to force Iran’s “surrender” after failing to achieve anything through military means in the last year.
It questioned the US authority to sponsor such a resolution when it has repeatedly used force against Iran, in complete violation of previous IAEA resolutions calling for “diplomatic solutions” to its nuclear issue.
“Not only did they ignore all efforts for a diplomatic solution, but they also bombed peaceful, safeguarded nuclear sites, violated basic principles of international law and the UN Charter, brutally committed war crimes, and killed thousands of civilians, including 168 children at a primary school and guests at a wedding,” Iran’s mission in Vienna said in a statement on Wednesday.
“They attack Iran‘s nuclear facilities under the IAEA safeguards, disrupt the normal verification process, and then use that very disruption as a pretext for adopting a resolution” against Iran, Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran’s deputy foreign minister, said in a post on X on Wednesday.
Gharibabadi also dismissed any possibility of further action on the resolution in the UNSC as two permanent members, Russia and China, have opposed its adoption.
A joint statement issued by Russia and China after the vote on the resolution in the IAEA BOG called the resolution “irrelevant” and a pressure tactic designed to undermine the cooperation between Iran and the IAEA.
Underlining the absence of a reference to the ongoing US aggression against Iran, Russia and China maintained that it amounts to ignoring the “root cause and principle factor underlying the current situation.”
Iran is right on all counts And how on earth can there be a UN Commission which doesn’t jump up and down about Israeli nukes?
So biased! Why hasn't this action been taken against the state of thieves to wit israel? It stole nuclear secrets and radioactive material. When israel hides its nukes behind closed doors, that must be an issue to IAEA?