Iran Drops UN Resolution On Nuclear Attacks After US Threat To IAEA

Vienna- Iran decided at the last minute Thursday to withdraw a resolution prohibiting attacks on nuclear facilities that it had put forward along with China, Russia and other countries for a vote before an annual gathering of the UN nuclear watchdog's member nations.

Western diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, said the US has been heavily lobbying behind the scenes to prevent the resolution from being adopted. The US 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's rights within the agency, the diplomats said.

In 1981, the provision of assistance to Israel under the IAEA's technical assistance programme 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 UN Security Council, the IAEA General Conference and the IAEA Board of Governors.

The resolution withdrawal comes as U.S. allies have started the clock on reimposing UN sanctions on Iran over it's nuclear programme.

Addressing the IAEA's General Conference late Thursday, Iran's Ambassador to the UN Reza Najafi announced that“guided by the spirit of goodwill and constructive engagement, and at the request of several member states,” it deferred action on the draft until next year's conference.

Israel targeted Iranian nuclear and military sites in June, saying it could not allow Tehran to develop atomic weapons and that it feared the Islamic Republic was close. The US inserted itself into the war on June 22, striking three Iranian nuclear facilities. Iran has long maintained that its nuclear programme is peaceful.

The text of Iran's draft resolution contained a paragraph that“strongly condemned” the“deliberate and unlawful attacks carried out in June 2025 against nuclear sites and facilities of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” adding that it constituted a“clear violation of international law.”

It also“reaffirmed” that“all states must refrain from attacking or threatening to attack peaceful nuclear facilities in other countries.”

Najafi said the objective by Iran and the other cosponsors of the resolution - including Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Belarus and Zimbabwe -“has never been to create division among member states,” adding that“on matters of such importance and sensitivity, it is imperative that the general conference conveys a unified and unambiguous message.”

He added,“We 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.”

Speaking at the IAEA General Conference earlier this week, the head of Iran's civilian atomic energy organization, Mohammad Eslami, said he expected IAEA member states to“take appropriate measures in response to these unlawful attacks on nuclear facilities.”

He said the“recent 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.”

Howard Solomon, the US charge d'affaires and acting permanent representative at the US Mission to International Organizations in Vienna, said the draft resolution“painted 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 UN, taking them out of context and drawing inaccurate conclusions.”

Had the resolution been put to a vote,“it would have been overwhelmingly defeated,” he said.

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