Nuclear watchdog refers Iran to UN Security Council over ‘non-compliance’

The UN nuclear watchdog has referred Iran to the Security Council for “non-compliance” with its obligations under the non-proliferation treaty – the first such move in 20 years.

The board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) passed a resolution at a meeting in Vienna.

It cites a lack of information on Iran’s nuclear material such as its stockpile of highly enriched uranium, and the lack of access to nuclear facilities for IAEA inspectors.

Tehran condemned the IAEA decision, blaming US and Israeli strikes on its nuclear facilities for disrupting inspections.

New sanctions are nonetheless unlikely because Iran’s allies China and Russia have veto powers in the council.

The IAEA resolution – tabled by the UK, France, Germany and the US – was backed by 23 countries, with eight abstentions. China, Russia and Niger voted against.

The document , externalasks IAEA chief Rafael Grossi to report Iran to the Security Council.

Iran had repeatedly warned the IAEA against passing such a resolution.

“They attack Iran’s safeguarded nuclear facilities, disrupt the normal process of verification, and then use that very disruption as a pretext to issue a resolution,” Iranian deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi wrote in a post on X.

The IAEA has not had access to Iran’s nuclear facilities since Israel and the US carried out a number of strikes on those sites during a 12-day conflict in June 2025.

The sites were targeted again in the latest war, launched by Israel and the US on 28 February.

Iran says the attacks on its facilities, including uranium enrichment plants in Natanz and Fordo, are the reason it does not let IAEA inspectors visit these sites.

Tehran also wants such access to be part of a wider settlement with the US and Israel to end the war.

Iran has repeatedly stated that its nuclear programme is solely for peaceful purposes.

The US, Israel and a number of European countries have questioned this claim, amid concerns that Tehran is trying to build a nuclear weapon.

At the start of the latest US-Israel war against Iran, Tehran had roughly 440kg (970lb) of 60% enriched uranium, according to senior US officials.

The material can be fairly quickly enriched to the 90% threshold needed for weapons-grade uranium.