{"id":238710,"date":"2025-09-19T10:44:12","date_gmt":"2025-09-19T10:44:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/238710\/"},"modified":"2025-09-19T10:44:12","modified_gmt":"2025-09-19T10:44:12","slug":"iran-withdraws-resolution-on-nuclear-facilities-attacks-at-iaea-meeting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/238710\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran withdraws resolution on nuclear facilities attacks at IAEA meeting"},"content":{"rendered":"

VIENNA (AP) \u2014 Iran<\/a> decided at the last minute Thursday to withdraw a resolution prohibiting attacks on nuclear facilities<\/a> that it had put forward along with China, Russia and other countries for a vote before an annual gathering of the U.N. nuclear watchdog\u2019s member nations.<\/p>\n

Western diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, said the U.S. has been heavily lobbying behind the scenes to prevent the resolution from being adopted. The U.S. has raised the possibility of reducing funding to the International Atomic Energy Agency if the resolution was adopted and if the body moved to curtail Israel\u2019s rights within the agency, the diplomats said.<\/p>\n

In 1981, the provision of assistance to Israel under the IAEA\u2019s technical assistance program was suspended as a result of an Israeli strike on a nuclear reactor in Iraq. At the time, the attack was strongly condemned in resolutions by the U.N. Security Council, the IAEA General Conference and the IAEA Board of Governors.<\/p>\n

The resolution withdrawal comes as U.S. allies have started the clock on reimposing U.N. sanctions<\/a> on Iran over it\u2019s nuclear program.<\/p>\n

Addressing the IAEA\u2019s General Conference late Thursday, Iran\u2019s Ambassador to the U.N. Reza Najafi announced that \u201cguided by the spirit of goodwill and constructive engagement, and at the request of several member states,\u201d it deferred action on the draft until next year\u2019s conference.<\/p>\n

Tensions after June attack<\/p>\n

Israel targeted Iranian nuclear and military sites<\/a> in June, saying it could not allow Tehran to develop atomic weapons and that it feared the Islamic Republic was close. The U.S. inserted itself into the war on June 22, striking three Iranian nuclear facilities<\/a>. Iran has long maintained that its nuclear program is peaceful.<\/p>\n

The text of Iran\u2019s draft resolution contained a paragraph that \u201cstrongly condemned\u201d the \u201cdeliberate and unlawful attacks carried out in June 2025 against nuclear sites and facilities of the Islamic Republic of Iran,\u201d adding that it constituted a \u201cclear violation of international law.\u201d<\/p>\n

It also \u201creaffirmed\u201d that \u201call states must refrain from attacking or threatening to attack peaceful nuclear facilities in other countries.\u201d<\/p>\n

Najafi said the objective by Iran and the other cosponsors of the resolution \u2014 including Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Belarus and Zimbabwe \u2014 \u201chas never been to create division among member states,\u201d adding that \u201con matters of such importance and sensitivity, it is imperative that the general conference conveys a unified and unambiguous message.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added, \u201cWe firmly believe that the voice of this body should not be distorted under the weight of the intimidation and political pressure exerted by one of the aggressors.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking at the IAEA General Conference earlier this week, the head of Iran\u2019s civilian atomic energy organization, Mohammad Eslami, said he expected IAEA member states to \u201ctake appropriate measures in response to these unlawful attacks on nuclear facilities.\u201d <\/p>\n

He said the \u201crecent threats made by the United States in this regard, as well as the exertion of political pressure on countries and the instrumental use of the Agency in various forms, including through influence on its budget, are matters of serious concern.\u201d<\/p>\n

Howard Solomon, the U.S. charge d\u2019affaires and acting permanent representative at the U.S. Mission to International Organizations in Vienna, said the draft resolution \u201cpainted a deeply inaccurate picture of recent events, distorted international law and selectively quoted from the IAEA statute and other documents adopted by the IAEA General Conference and U.N., taking them out of context and drawing inaccurate conclusions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Had the resolution been put to a vote, \u201cit would have been overwhelmingly defeated,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Solomon said that \u201cthe grave and growing threat to Israel and the region created by Iran\u2019s enrichment program necessitated strong and decisive action directed by President Trump,\u201d adding that the U.S. did not \u201ctake this action lightly.\u201d<\/p>\n

A request for comment has been sent to the U.S. State Department and the U.S. Mission to the International Organizations in Vienna.<\/p>\n

Looming deadline<\/p>\n

The IAEA General Conference consists of high-ranking representatives of the 180 members states of the U.N. nuclear watchdog who debate issues of international nuclear policy. It meets annually in Vienna, approves the budget and considers resolutions on nuclear safety and security issues.<\/p>\n

The meeting came at a sensitive time, with France, Germany and the United Kingdom launching the process to reimpose sanctions on Iran<\/a> over what they deemed noncompliance with a 2015 agreement aimed at preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons. <\/p>\n

The process, termed a \u201csnapback\u201d by the diplomats who negotiated it into Iran\u2019s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, was designed to be veto-proof at the U.N. and could take effect in a month.<\/p>\n

The move set a 30-day clock for the resumption of sanctions unless the West and Iran reach a diplomatic agreement.<\/p>\n

European nations have said they would be willing to extend the deadline if Iran resumes direct negotiations with the U.S. over its nuclear program, allows U.N. nuclear inspectors access to its nuclear sites, and accounts for the more than 400 kilograms of highly enriched uranium the U.N. watchdog says it has.<\/p>\n

When asked in an interview on Israel\u2019s Channel 12 on Thursday whether the snapback was a done deal, French President Emmanuel Macron said: \u201cYes. I think so because the latest news we had from the Iranians is not serious.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

The Associated Press receives support for nuclear security coverage from the Carnegie Corporation of New York<\/a> and Outrider Foundation<\/a>. The AP is solely responsible for all content.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Additional AP coverage of the nuclear landscape: https:\/\/apnews.com\/projects\/the-new-nuclear-landscape\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"VIENNA (AP) \u2014 Iran decided at the last minute Thursday to withdraw a resolution prohibiting attacks on nuclear…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":238711,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[69,8703,10102,57,127837,3464,14235,6604,83,3461,19548,127838,50,80,16816,1206,103,107],"class_list":{"0":"post-238710","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-donald-trump","9":"tag-emmanuel-macron","10":"tag-energy-industry","11":"tag-general-news","12":"tag-howard-solomon","13":"tag-international-agreements","14":"tag-international-atomic-energy-agency","15":"tag-international-news","16":"tag-iran","17":"tag-iran-government","18":"tag-manufacturing-sector","19":"tag-mohammad-eslami","20":"tag-news","21":"tag-politics","22":"tag-sanctions-and-embargoes","23":"tag-united-nations","24":"tag-world","25":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115230557172293997","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238710","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238710"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238710\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/238711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}