The United Nations elected Iran as one of 34 vice presidents of the 11th NuclearNon-Proliferation TreatyReview Conference, which opened April 27 at UN headquarters in New York. Iran was nominated by the Non-Aligned Movement, representing 121 largely developing nations.
The appointment drew immediate objections from the United States, Australia, the UAE, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany. Christopher Yeaw, U.S. Assistant Secretary for Arms Control and Nonproliferation, called Iran’s selection an “affront” to the NPT, saying it was “indisputable that Iran has long demonstrated its contempt for the non-proliferation commitments of the NPT,” and declared it “beyond shamefuland an embarrassment to the credibility of this conference.”
The UAE called the appointment “antitheticalto the values of the NPT,” warning: “If a state party can disregard its obligations, undermine verification, destabilize its region, threaten international waterways, and still be elevated to a leadership position in this process, then we must ask what message this conference is sending.” Russia defended Iran and accused the objecting nations of “political attacks.”
The basis for the objections is extensive. Iranratified the NPTin 1970 and concluded a comprehensive safeguards agreement with the IAEA in 1974. In 2002, the agency began investigating allegations of clandestinenuclear activities, finding that some had violated Tehran’s safeguards agreement.
The IAEA Board of Governors reported the matter to the UN Security Council in February 2006, after which the Council adopted six resolutions requiring Iran to cooperate with the IAEA, suspend uranium enrichment, suspend construction of a heavy-water reactor, and ratify the Additional Protocol to its safeguards agreement. Iran did not comply with most ofthose provisions. On September 24, 2005, the board had already adopted a resolution finding Iran innoncompliancewith its safeguards agreement.
Beginning in July 2019, the IAEA verified thatIran’s nuclear activitieswere again exceeding JCPOA-mandated limits, with Iran’s installed centrifuges, enriched uranium stockpile, uranium U-235 concentration, and number of enrichment locations all surpassing what the agreementpermitted. Tehran was also conducting JCPOA-prohibited research and development activities. On January 14, 2020, the foreign ministers of France, Germany, and the United Kingdom formally stated that Iran was not meeting its JCPOA commitments and referred the matter to the agreement’s disputeresolution mechanism.
A December 2024 E3 letter to the UN Security Council reiterated their determination to use all diplomatic tools to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, including the snapback mechanism toreimpose sanctions.
On June 12, 2025, the IAEA Board of Governors adopted resolutionGOV/2025/38, formally finding that Iran’s failure to cooperate with its investigation constitutes non-compliance with its safeguards agreement, the first such finding since 2005, put forward by France, the UK, Germany, and the United States.
The IAEA Director General confirmed that man-made uranium particles were found at three undeclared locations,Varamin, Marivan, and Turquzabad, during inspections in 2019 and 2020, and that Iran had never provided credible explanations for nuclear material at sites it never disclosed. Iran responded to the breach finding by announcing a new enrichment facility at an undisclosed location and the replacement of first-generation centrifuges at Fordow withsixth-generation centrifuges.
Prior to the June 2025 Israeli and U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, the IAEA calculated that Iran held 440.9 kg of uranium enriched to 60% purity, a level that has no credible civilian justification and that Iran alone, among non-nuclear-weapon states,has produced. The Institute for Science and International Security assessed that Iran could convert that stockpile into enough weapons-grade uranium for nine nuclear weapons in approximately three weeks at the Fordow facility, with enough material for a first weapon producible in as little as twoto three days.
Source: The Gateway Pundit
