Tehran urges IAEA to end double standards, resist politicization

Iran’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations in Vienna has urged the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to drop its “double standards”, and not to submit to pressure from certain regimes.

The statement was issued on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the approval of the IAEA statute.

Referring to Articles IV.C, III.C, III.B.1 and III.D of the statue, Iran’s mission said “Sovereign equality requires that every state be treated fairly and without discrimination under the legal instruments applicable to it, free from double standards, selective interpretation and politically motivated action.”

Iran’s UN mission cited as an example “the continuing disparity between the scrutiny applied to Iran and the absence of comprehensive safeguards covering all nuclear activities of the Israeli regime,” which refuses to join the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

It noted that this disparity raises “fundamental” questions about the credibility and consistency of the international nuclear non-proliferation norms.

The statement called for “a credible, comprehensive and non-discriminatory approach to nuclear verification throughout the Middle East”, stressing that selective scrutiny and unequal expectations undermine regional security.

Emphasizing that countries have the right to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, the statement said “Political pressure and geopolitical rivalries must not obstruct legitimate scientific cooperation or turn access to peaceful nuclear technology into a privilege reserved for selected countries.”

The statement decried the IAEA’s silence on the US-Israeli attacks on safeguarded Iranian nuclear facilities in 2025 and earlier this year.

“The Agency’s governing bodies and Secretariat failed to issue even a simple statement to condemn clear acts of aggression against Iran’s nuclear facilities – unprecedented in the Agency’s history.”

“This failure represents a serious institutional shortcoming and raises troubling questions about the consistent application of the principles the Agency is mandated to uphold.”

Iran called on the IAEA, particularly the Board of Governors and the Director General “to end double standards, resist politicization, protect confidential information, condemn attacks against peaceful nuclear facilities, and restore the full and balanced implementation of the Agency’s statutory mandate.”

It also urged “an effective and non-discriminatory technical cooperation policy that enables all member states, particularly developing countries, to benefit from nuclear science and technology.”

Iran’s UN mission reiterated that the agency’s statute must be “implemented as a whole, equally and in good faith—not selectively, not conditionally and not according to political convenience.”

The US and Israeli regimes targeted Iran two times in June 2025 and February 28 amid indirect talks between Iran and the US.

Other than military and civilian facilities, including hospitals and schools, Iran’s safeguarded peaceful nuclear facilities were targeted by the aggressors in both wars amid the silence of the international community and the IAEA.