TEHRAN – Twelve countries, including Iran, Russia, China and Pakistan, have issued a joint statement declaring that nuclear facilities must never, under any circumstances, be subjected to attack or the threat of attack.
On Friday, the 12 countries — Belarus, Burkina Faso, China, Cuba, Eritrea, Iran, Nicaragua, Niger, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Zimbabwe — issued the joint statement during the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly’s First Committee. The statement addressed the prohibition of any attack or threat of attack against nuclear sites and facilities that are under the safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and dedicated to peaceful purposes.
According to IRNA, the statement was read out by Gholamhossein Darzi, Iran’s ambassador and chargé d’affaires to the United Nations. It contained eight points, as follows:
1. We reaffirm the importance of the full and effective fulfilment of the objectives of the International Atomic Energy Agency, particularly its statutory mission to accelerate and enlarge the contribution of atomic energy to peace, health and prosperity throughout the world. We also reaffirm the inalienable right of all states to develop research into, produce and use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes without discrimination.
2. We recall United Nations Security Council Resolution 487 (1981), which strongly condemned a military attack against nuclear facilities. We also recall the relevant decisions and resolutions of the IAEA General Conference — documents GC(53)/DEC/13, GC(XXIX)/RES/443, GC(XXIX)/RES/444 and GC(XXXIV)/RES/533 — which clearly reflect the longstanding position of the international community opposing any attack or threat of attack against nuclear facilities under IAEA safeguards and dedicated to peaceful purposes.
3. We reaffirm that an attack or threat of attack against nuclear facilities violates the principles of the United Nations Charter, international law and the Statute of the International Atomic Energy Agency, and is fundamentally incompatible with the objectives and purposes of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).
4. We emphasize that attacks against nuclear facilities have serious implications for nuclear safety and security and pose a grave threat to the integrity, effectiveness and credibility of the IAEA safeguards system, as well as to the broader global non-proliferation framework.
5. We emphasize that attacks against nuclear facilities would adversely affect the peaceful uses of nuclear energy and international cooperation, and could result in the release of radioactive materials, with severe consequences both within and beyond the affected country, including serious impacts on civilian populations and long-term environmental damage.
6. We emphasize that silence in the face of attacks against protected nuclear facilities undermines established international norms, erodes confidence in the international legal order and increases the risk of such attacks becoming normalised.
7. We therefore reaffirm that nuclear facilities must never, under any circumstances, be subjected to attack or the threat of attack.
8. We call on all member states to stand united in preserving the integrity and credibility of the IAEA safeguards system, strengthening nuclear safety and security, and protecting the peaceful uses of nuclear energy and international cooperation by expressing their clear and unequivocal opposition to any attack or threat of attack against nuclear facilities.
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