Warning on Iran nuclear obligations as further US talks planned
Iran reacted immediately by saying it will establish a new enrichment facility after the vote against it.
The announcement said the facility will be 'in a secure location' and that 'other measures are also being planned'.
'The Islamic Republic of Iran has no choice but to respond to this political resolution,' the Iranian foreign ministry and the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran said in a joint statement announcing the decision.
Nineteen countries on the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) board, which represents the agency's member nations, voted for the resolution, according to diplomats who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Russia, China and Burkina Faso opposed it, 11 abstained and two did not vote.
In the draft resolution seen by The Associated Press, the board of governors renewed a call on Iran to provide answers 'without delay' in a long-running investigation into uranium traces found at several locations that Tehran has failed to declare as nuclear sites.
Western officials suspect the uranium traces could provide evidence that Iran had a secret nuclear weapons programme until 2003.
The resolution was put forward by France, the UK, Germany and the United States.
'Iran's many failures to uphold its obligations since 2019 to provide the agency with full and timely co-operation regarding undeclared nuclear material and activities at multiple undeclared locations in Iran … constitutes non-compliance with its obligations under its safeguards agreement,' the draft resolution says.
Under the so-called safeguards obligations, which are part of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, Iran is legally bound to declare all nuclear material and activities, and allow IAEA inspectors to verify that none of it is being diverted from peaceful uses.
I am pleased to confirm the 6th round of Iran US talks will be held in Muscat this Sunday the 15th.
— Badr Albusaidi – بدر البوسعيدي (@badralbusaidi) June 12, 2025
The draft resolution also finds that the IAEA's 'inability … to provide assurance that Iran's nuclear programme is exclusively peaceful gives rise to questions that are within the competence of the United Nations Security Council, as the organ bearing the main responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security'.
The vote comes at a sensitive time as tensions in the region have been rising, with the US State Department announcing on Wednesday that it is drawing down the presence of people who are not deemed essential to operations in the Middle East.
It also comes as the US and Iran have been holding talks on Tehran's rapidly advancing nuclear programme.
Oman's foreign minister said earlier on Thursday that a sixth round of negotiations will be held in his country on Sunday.
The draft resolution makes a direct reference to the US-Iran talks, stressing its 'support for a diplomatic solution to the problems posed by the Iranian nuclear programme, including the talks between the United States and Iran, leading to an agreement that addresses all international concerns related to Iran's nuclear activities, encouraging all parties to constructively engage in diplomacy'.
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Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Israel launches preemptive strikes on Iran as explosions rock nation
By and NATALIE LISBONA IN JERUSALEM and STEPHEN M. LEPORE FOR Israel has launched an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities and assassinated the head of the country's armed forces in a huge strike with over 200 warplanes - prompting fears of retaliation and war in the Middle East. Benjamin Netanyahu said Operation Rising Lion targeted Iran's main enrichment facility in Natanz and the country's ballistic missile program, as well as top nuclear scientists and officials. The Israeli military said Friday morning that Iran has launched over 100 drones at Israel in the past few hours in retaliation for the Israeli strikes, killing top officials. The US has distanced itself from the strikes and warned Iran not to attack US bases in the region in retaliation, telling Tehran it was not involved in the attacks. 'In the last few hours, Iran has launched more than 100 drones toward Israel, and all the defense systems are acting to intercept the threats,' Brig. Gen. 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Israel 'opened its wicked and blood-stained hand to commit a crime against our beloved country, revealing its malicious nature more than ever by striking residential centers,' Khamenei said. Iran's state-run IRNA news agency quotes an anonymous official saying Iran will offer a 'decisive' response to Israel's attack. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a televised address that the attacks will continue 'for as many days at it takes to remove this threat' of Iran's nuclear program. 'The Jewish state refuses to be a victim of a nuclear holocaust perpetrated by the Iranian regime,' Netanyahu said. 'Israel will never allow those who call for our annihilation to develop the means to achieve that goal.' Netanyahu alleged that Iran was working on a new plan to destroy Israel after its old plan, its circle of proxies, failed. He called that an intolerable threat that must be stopped. The prime minister later declared the strikes a success but warned more were coming: 'We are going to have many more achievements.' People in Iran's capital, Tehran, heard another round of explosions Friday morning hours after the initial attack. It wasn't immediately clear if it was air defense systems going off or another attack. The New York Times reported at least a half dozen military bases around Tehran residential homes used by military personnel were among the targets. An Israeli defense official said the strikes likely killed members of Iran's general staff, including the chief of staff and several senior nuclear scientists. Gen. Mohammad Bagheri, the chief of staff of Iran's armed forces, was one of the top officials killed, Iranian state television reported Friday. Bagheri is a former top commander within Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard. The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed that an Israeli strike hit Iran's uranium enrichment facility at Natanz. The head of Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, Gen. Hossein Salami, was also killed in the strikes, Iranian state television reported. Gen. Gholamali Rashid, deputy commander in chief of the armed forces and nuclear scientists, Fereydoun Abbasi, the former head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran and Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi, a theoretical physicist and president of the Islamic Azad University in Tehran, were all killed as well. Iran's Revolutionary Guard, created after its 1979 Islamic Revolution, is one of the main power centers within the country's theocracy. It also controls Iran's arsenal of ballistic missiles, which it has used to attack Israel twice during the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. Defense Minister Israel Katz said Israel was preparing for a response by the Iranians after the strike. 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The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Wednesday declared Iran in breach of its non-proliferation obligations for the first time in almost 20 years. Iran failed to provide the watchdog with credible explanations as to how uranium was detected at undeclared sites, despite the agency having investigated the matter for years.
Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
Israel's airlines evacuate planes to other countries after strikes on Iran
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an hour ago
- South Wales Argus
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