UNSC inaction against Israel may collapse global nuclear non-proliferation system, says Iran

Iran claims IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi facilitated Israeli aggressions by preparing a “biased” report on its nuclear program. It demands IAEA end actions against Israel as per the NPT and UN principles.

June 20, 2025 by Abdul Rahman
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi meeting with European ministers. Photo: UK Commonwealth & Development Office

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi reiterated on Friday, June 20, that his country will only consider diplomatic engagements and a resolution to the war with Israel after Israel relents and ceases all its aggressions against the country.

Araghchi was traveling to Geneva to meet with his European counterparts, who seek to engage with Iran in order to find a diplomatic solution to the Israel-Iran war.

On Friday, thousands of Iranians took to the streets across the country to denounce the Israeli aggression. The protesters expressed their support for the Iranian government and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei’s actions in defense of the country. They also expressed their solidarity with the Palestinian people, who have endured over 20 months of Israeli genocide, Tasnim News Agency reported.

The Israel-Iran war began on June 13 following unprovoked Israeli aggressions on multiple cities in Iran. Israel called its attacks “Operation Rising Lion” and claimed it targeted Iran’s nuclear sites as well.

Over 600 Iranians – mostly civilians, including many children – have been killed in Israeli air and missile attacks inside Iran since Friday. Over 1,300 have been wounded. Israel’s aggression also killed Iran’s top nuclear scientists and military officials.

Read more: The illegal attack on Iran

Reports have surfaced indicating that Araghchi himself escaped an Israeli assassination attempt a few days ago.

Iran has since suspended the indirect talks with the US over its nuclear program and has retaliated against Israeli attacks with missiles and drones. Iranian retaliatory strikes have targeted Israel’s military and intelligence installations across the country. Israel has reported scores of deaths and injuries from Iran’s attacks.

Reacting to the multiple calls for diplomatic solutions, Araghchi reiterated that his country never left the diplomatic path. He accused the Europeans of encouraging Israel by failing to condemn its aggressions against the Iranian people and its repeated violations of basic international laws.

Araghchi also rejected any possibility of talks with the US for the time being, claiming any reports claiming otherwise are “false.” He emphasized Iran’s stance that the US is a “partner in this crime” of Israeli aggressions.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian also reiterated on Friday that his country has always “sought peace and tranquility” but “in the current circumstances, the only way to end the imposed war is to ‘unconditionally stop’ the enemy’s aggressions.”

Pezeshkian also sought “a definitive guarantee to end the adventures of Zionist terrorists forever” stating that otherwise “our response to the enemy will be harsher and more regrettable” for Israel.

IAEA facilitated Israeli aggression 

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Esmail Baghaei accused Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi of presenting a biased report against Iran during the Board of Governors (BoG) meeting earlier this month.

Baghaei said Grossi’s biased report was “instrumentalized by the E3/US to craft a resolution with baseless allegations of non-compliance.” He also asserted that the resolution was utilized as the final pretext “by a genocidal warmongering regime [Israel] to wage a war of aggression on Iran and to launch an unlawful attack on our peaceful nuclear facilities.”

He reminded the director that Iran is a member of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), committed to preventing the spread of nuclear weapons.

Iran demanded Grossi’s accountability for helping a non-NPT member use the IAEA forum to deprive NPT members of their basic rights under article 4, “betraying the non-proliferation regime” and implicating the IAEA as a partner in Israel’s “unjust war of aggression.”

Based on Grossi’s controversial report, the IAEA’s BoG adopted a censure resolution against Iran last week, accusing it of not complying with international nuclear safeguards. The resolution was prepared by the E3 (the UK, France, and Germany) and supported by the US.

Israel launched its aggression against Iran within a day of the adoption of the resolution.

IAEA failed to condemn Israeli violations

Baghaei was responding to Grossi’s recent comments on CNN. Pushing back against Israel’s claims that its attacks aimed to prevent Iran from building nuclear bombs, Grossi stated that the IAEA did not have any evidence that Iran was moving to build nuclear weapons.

Baghaei called Grossi’s clarification too little, too late.

Iran also accused Grossi of failing to condemn Israeli violations of international conventions related to peaceful nuclear activities.

The head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), Mohammad Eslami, wrote a letter to Grossi on Thursday questioning the IAEA’s inaction on the weeklong Israeli aggressions against Iran.

Iran pointed out that Israel’s attacks on its nuclear sites are in clear violation of the NPT, the Geneva convention, the UN Charter, and several other relevant international conventions and treaties and demanded the IAEA immediately take actions against Israel for its violations.

Eslami stated that Iran “will pursue legal actions against the IAEA chief in connection with his inaction,” Press TV reported.

Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran’s deputy foreign minister, claimed that Grossi’s failure to condemn the Israeli aggression “shows he has become a pawn in the hands of the Israeli regime and the US” and expressed Iran’s resolve to pursue the matter in the UN Security Council.

Israel attacks Arak heavy water reactor

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi demanded on Friday that the Security Council invoke UN resolution 487 against Israel following its attacks on Iran’s Arak heavy water reactor on Thursday.

Resolution 487 was adopted unanimously by the UN Security Council in 1981 after Israel attacked Iraq’s nuclear facilities. The resolution says that any military attack on a nuclear facility anywhere amounts to the violations of the entire IAEA safeguards regime and the NPT.

Araghchi emphasized that if the UN Security Council fails to invoke the resolution now “it must explain to the international community why its legal principles apply only selectively on such a crucial matter.” He asserted that if UNSC fails to take action, the collapse of the global non-proliferation regime (NPT) will rest on its shoulders.