Iran decided at the last minute on Thursday (September 18, 2025) 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 U.N. nuclear watchdog’s member nations.
Western diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, said the U.S. has been heavily lobbying behind the scenes to prevent the resolution from being adopted. The U.S. 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 U.N. 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 U.N. sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme.
Addressing the IAEA’s General Conference late Thursday (September 18, 2025), Iran’s Ambassador to the U.N. 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.
