The Board of Governors of the United Nations nuclear watchdog has passed a resolution accusing Iran of failing to comply with its nuclear nonproliferation commitments and referring the matter to the UN Security Council (UNSC).<\/p>\n
The diplomatic move \u2013 backed by the United States and its key European allies \u2013 comes more than six months into the US-Israeli war against Iran, and as tensions flare in the Strait of Hormuz, where the US and Iran have traded attacks on vessels<\/a> in recent days.<\/p>\n Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list<\/p>\n Here\u2019s what\u2019s to know about the resolution by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and its implications during the ongoing conflict:<\/p>\n What has the IAEA accused Iran of?<\/p>\n The IAEA resolution expressed \u201cgrave concern\u201d<\/a> over Iran\u2019s \u201ccontinued noncompliance\u201d with its obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), to which it is a signatory.<\/p>\n Under the NPT, Iran is forbidden from producing nuclear weapons and is required to meet IAEA safeguards to verify that any nuclear material it has is for peaceful purposes.<\/p>\n But the IAEA has not had access to key nuclear facilities in Iran since the US and Israel launched a 12-day war against Iran<\/a> in June 2025, which included attacks on key Iranian nuclear sites, such as Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan facilities.<\/p>\n In its latest resolution, the IAEA board said its \u201clack of information about previously declared nuclear material and access to facilities to verify it\u201d is a \u201cproliferation concern\u201d that needs to be urgently addressed.<\/p>\n It called on Tehran \u201cto engage seriously and without preconditions in talks aimed at building international confidence in the exclusively peaceful nature of Iran\u2019s nuclear programme\u201d.<\/p>\n It is the first time in 20 years that the IAEA board has passed such a resolution.<\/p>\n How has Iran responded?<\/p>\n Iran has condemned the resolution, calling it baseless and politically motivated.<\/p>\n \u201cThis resolution was passed under political pressure from the US and its allies and in our view has no basis,\u201d said Iran\u2019s representative to the UN in Vienna, Reza Najafi.<\/p>\n Najafi said Iran has been unable to provide inspectors safe access to its nuclear sites due to the ongoing conflict. However, he said Iran has \u201cneither stopped nor suspended its safeguards obligations,\u201d adding that \u201cperformance is currently impossible under continuing military operations and persistent threats\u201d.<\/p>\n Tehran \u201cwill cooperate only to the extent that circumstances and safety permit\u201d, he added.<\/p>\n Iran\u2019s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi appeared to accuse the US, which sponsored the IAEA board resolution along with the United Kingdom, France and Germany, of political posturing.<\/p>\n \u201cThey attack Iran\u2019s safeguarded nuclear facilities, disrupt the normal verification process, and then use that very disruption as a pretext to pass a resolution at the IAEA Board of Governors,\u201d said Gharibabadi in a post on X.<\/p>\n Tehran has repeatedly denied it is seeking nuclear weapons but insisted it has the right to pursue civilian nuclear technology.<\/p>\n US President Donald Trump has demanded that Tehran completely dismantle its nuclear enrichment programme. The US launched the current war, saying Iran was on the verge of making a nuclear bomb \u2013 an assertion not backed by the IAEA as well as the US\u2019s own intelligence agency.<\/p>\n Iran has a legal right to run a civilian nuclear programme under the NPT.<\/p>\n What is the UNSC expected to do?<\/p>\n It is unlikely to take any further action, as Iran\u2019s allies Russia and China are veto-holding members.<\/p>\n Ali Vaez, of the International Crisis Group, told the AFP news agency that the IAEA resolution is ultimately \u201can exercise in futility\u201d, with Russia and China \u201clikely to ensure that Western pressure hits a wall at the Security Council\u201d.<\/p>\n Darya Dolzikova, a senior research fellow at the Royal United Service Institute\u2019s proliferation and nuclear policy programme, said she also does not expect the UNSC to adopt a resolution condemning Iran for non-compliance.<\/p>\n \u201cNevertheless, referral to the UNSC is intended to send a strong message that the US and the E3 [France, Germany and the UK] are unwilling to accept the status quo and to let Iran get away with continuing to refuse the IAEA access to its nuclear facilities,\u201d Dolzikova told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n What impact could this have on the US war against Iran?<\/p>\n The US, which has made Iran\u2019s nuclear programme a central point in the ongoing conflict, could cite the IAEA referral as evidence of a potential Iranian nuclear threat.<\/p>\n On the same day as the IAEA report, US President Donald Trump renewed threats to target Iran\u2019s Pickaxe Mountain, which has two underground complexes near Iran\u2019s damaged Natanz uranium \u2060enrichment facility.<\/p>\n Trump said the US had observed \u201ca little activity\u201d there and would \u201cadvise Iran not to get cute because we will have to hit them very hard\u201d.<\/p>\n The US president also reiterated his claim<\/a> that Iran is seeking a nuclear weapon, adding that the world would be \u201cin deep trouble\u201d if they secured one.<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s repeated warnings about an Iranian nuclear risk and his threats to strike Iran\u2019s nuclear sites come despite his claim last summer that US strikes had \u201ctotally obliterated\u201d<\/a> Iran\u2019s key enrichment facilities.<\/p>\n Bahram Ghiassee, a nuclear analyst and associate fellow at the UK-based Henry Jackson Society think tank, said the IAEA\u2019s decision to refer Iran to the UNSC could serve as an opportunity for Washington to delay major military action until the US mid-term elections in November.<\/p>\n \u201cPost-November elections, Washington\u2019s political and military calculus may prove to be different, and a far less diplomatic approach may be adopted,\u201d Ghiassee told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n What is the IAEA\u2019s history with Iran?<\/p>\n The IAEA was highly critical of Iran in the early 2000s, accusing it of failing to declare nuclear material and activities. In 2006, the UNSC imposed sanctions on Iran after it failed to comply with a resolution demanding it end its uranium enrichment programme.<\/p>\n But after Iran agreed to the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with six major global powers, including the US, it agreed to curtail its nuclear programme and open up nuclear sites to extensive, unprecedented IAEA inspection.<\/p>\n Iran remained in compliance for years, but the agreement went south after Trump withdrew the US from the deal in 2018 and reimposed US sanctions on Iran. Tehran retaliated by intensifying its nuclear programme, abandoning the restrictions imposed by the deal.<\/p>\n