Iran and 11 other countries have warned that attacks against nuclear facilities under International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards must never be accepted as normal, stressing that such actions violate international law and threaten nuclear safety and the global non-proliferation system, Press TV reported on Saturday. 'Nuclear facilities shall never, under any circumstances, be subjected to attack or threat of attack,' the countries said in a joint statement delivered at the 81st session of the UN General Assembly's First Committee on Friday.
Source: Press TV, Oct 24, 2026
Tabnak, which published the full text of the statement, listed the 12 signatories as Belarus, Burkina Faso, China, Cuba, Eritrea, Iran, Nicaragua, Niger, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Zimbabwe. The statement addressed 'the prohibition of all forms of attacks and threats of attack against nuclear sites and facilities under IAEA safeguards and devoted to peaceful purposes.'
Source: Tabnak (full statement text), Oct 24, 2026
The countries reaffirmed 'the inalienable right of all States to develop research, production, and use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes without discrimination,' and said attacks or threats against nuclear facilities violate the principles of the UN Charter, international law and the IAEA Statute, and are 'profoundly inconsistent with the objects and purposes of the NPT,' the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.
Source: Press TV, Oct 24, 2026
The statement recalled UN Security Council Resolution 487 (1981), which strongly condemned a military attack against nuclear facilities, as well as IAEA General Conference decisions GC(53)/DEC/13, GC(XXIX)/RES/443, GC(XXIX)/RES/444 and GC(XXXIV)/RES/533, which the signatories said reflect the international community's longstanding position against attacks on safeguarded peaceful facilities.
Source: Tabnak (full statement text), Oct 24, 2026
The 12 warned that attacks on nuclear facilities have 'grave implications for nuclear safety, nuclear security' and threaten the credibility and effectiveness of the IAEA safeguards system, and could cause radioactive releases 'with grave consequences within and beyond the State concerned, including severe impacts on civilian populations and long-term damage to the environment.' 'Silence in the face of attacks against safeguarded nuclear facilities undermines established international norms, erodes confidence in the international legal order, and risks the normalization of such attacks,' the statement said.
Source: Tabnak (full statement text), Oct 24, 2026
The statement comes after two rounds of US-Israeli attacks on Iran in 2025 and 2026 that targeted Iranian nuclear facilities — a background Press TV set out in its report; the United States and Israel have presented their strikes as aimed at preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, a position the joint statement does not address. The signatories called on all member states to express 'a clear and unequivocal opposition to any attack, or threat of attack, against nuclear facilities.'
Source: Press TV, Oct 24, 2026