FM Araghchi in a letter to UN and IAEA warns about attacks to Irans nuclear facilities and sites

Seyed Abbas Araghchi Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran in a letter to the UN Secretary General and IAEA Director General warns against continuous armed attacks by the U.S. and the Israeli regime against several safeguarded nuclear facilities and installations of the Islamic Republic of Iran including the active Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant and the risk of radioactive contamination with grave humanitarian and environmental consequences.

Seyed Abbas Araghchi, Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran, in a letter to the UN Secretary General and IAEA Director General warns against continuous armed attacks by the U.S. and the Israeli regime against several safeguarded nuclear facilities and installations of the Islamic Republic of Iran, including the active Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, and the risk of radioactive contamination with grave humanitarian and environmental consequences.

Here is the full text of the letter:

Excellency,
I am writing, as a follow-up to my letter S/2026/216 dated 23 March 2026, to bring to your
attention the continuous armed attacks by the U.S. and the Israeli regime against several
safeguarded nuclear facilities and installations of the Islamic Republic of Iran, notably the active
Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, an installation devoted exclusively to peaceful purposes and
operating under the IAEA’s comprehensive safeguards regime. These unlawful attacks expose the
entire region to the risk of radioactive contamination with grave humanitarian and environmental
consequences, and as such shall not be left unattended.

Within a span of nine months, two wars of aggression have been imposed upon the Islamic
Republic of Iran, by the US, a depository of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear
Weapons (NPT) and Israel, an outlaw regime that remains outside the framework of the NPT. In
both instances, Iran’s peaceful nuclear facilities were attacked and bombed, and with grave
disappointment, the United Nations Security Council, the IAEA Board of Governors and its
Director General have flatly failed from even condemning the illegal attacks, let alone undertaking
effective measures within their mandate to prevent their recurrence.

Now the US Senior officials, who label international humanitarian law as “stupid,” have
gained the audacity to state that nuclear facilities are among their targets. The United States’
Permanent Representative to the United Nations has openly expressed that attacks against the
Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant is not off the table! Such recklessness is the direct consequence of
the inaction of the United Nations and the Agency regarding the manifest acts of aggression by
the United States and the Israeli regimes, which has only emboldened the aggressors. This course
of unlawful attacks inflicted irreparable blow upon the credibility of the United Nations, the
Security Council, the IAEA, and its safeguards system.

It is disturbing that since beginning of this criminal war on 28 February 2026, the following
attacks have been made by the aggressors against Iran’s peaceful nuclear facilities and
installations, without any outright condemnation being heard from relevant international bodies:
- On 1 March, the Natanz nuclear facility was attacked two times;
- On 17 March, a structure just 350 meters away from the active Bushehr Nuclear Power
Plant was attacked;
- On 21 March, several points in Natanz nuclear facility were bombed;
- On 24 March, a projectile struck within the broader perimeter of the Bushehr Nuclear
Power Plant site;
- On 27 March, Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant site was attacked for the third time;
- On 27 March, the Heavy Water Production Plant at Khondab-Arak was attacked;
- On 27 March, Ardakan-Yazd Uranium Processing Site was bombed.

The aggressors’ repeated strikes in the vicinity of the active Nuclear Power Plant in
Bushehr is extremely alarming; their proximity to an active nuclear facility constitutes an
intolerable escalation, entailing a grave risk of radiological release.

As already highlighted in my letter dated 23 March 2026, such attacks constitute a blatant
violation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 487 (1981), as well as the decisions and
resolutions of the IAEA, including GC(53)/DEC/13 and GC(XXIX)/RES/443,
GC(XXIX)/RES/444, and GC(XXXIV)/RES/533. These attacks also constitute a serious breach
of the fundamental principles and rules of international humanitarian law. Article 56 of the 1977
Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions provides absolute and heightened protection for
works and installations containing dangerous forces, including nuclear electrical generating
stations, expressly prohibiting their being made the object of attack where such action may result
in the release of hazardous forces and severe consequences for the civilian population. The
deliberate targeting of areas in the vicinity of such facilities, undertaken with full awareness of
the inherent risk of radiological release, constitutes a manifest violation of these peremptory
safeguards, thereby exposing civilian populations—both within the territory of the Islamic
Republic of Iran and throughout the wider region—to grave and unprecedented danger.

Moreover, Article 55 of Additional Protocol I obligates parties to any armed conflict to ensure the
protection of the natural environment against damage that is widespread, long-term, and severe.
The methods and means of warfare employed by the U.S/Israeli regime’ aggression, give rise to
a substantial risk of environmental devastation, including the potential for radioactive
contamination of the Persian Gulf, the regional atmosphere, terrestrial ecosystems, and critical
natural resources. Such harm would not be confined within national borders but would inevitably extend to neighboring States, thereby endangering public health, ecological balance, and the economic sustenance of the entire population.

Excellency,
Recent developments have demonstrated that transparency and cooperation with the Agency
cannot, in and of themselves, be relied upon as guarantees of national security, the protection of
national interests, or the inalienable rights of States to the peaceful use of nuclear energy.
I reiterate my warning that, should the United Nations Security Council and the Board of
Governors of the IAEA remain indifferent in the face of manifest illegal attacks against Iran’s
safeguarded nuclear facilities, the Member States’ may lose confidence in the United Nations, the
Agency, and the broader non-proliferation regime will be further eroded. The consequences of
such inaction would not be confined to Iran.

Excellency,
I avail of this opportunity to also register the formal protest and profound concern of the
Islamic Republic of Iran regarding the IAEA Director General’s recent statements, which
constitute a serious departure from official mandate of his office and are in violation of the Statute
of the IAEA and the Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement (CSA).

In the course of various media interviews conducted during March 2026, the Director
General has disclosed sensitive safeguards-related information concerning Iran’s peaceful nuclear
program. In light of past adverse experiences and the demonstrated misuse of confidential and
sensitive information provided to the Agency, such conducts—should they contribute to or
facilitate further attacks against Iran’s safeguarded nuclear facilities—may engage the
international responsibility of the Agency.

Furthermore, the Director General’s recent statement suggesting the likelihood of the use
of nuclear weapons against Iran, which risks normalizing the use or threat of use of nuclear
weapons against a State Party to the NPT and its peaceful nuclear facilities, are deeply
reprehensible and alarming. Such positions have resulted in a serious erosion to confidence in the
integrity of the non-proliferation regime, IAEA safeguards system, and the impartiality of the
Agency and its Director General.

The Islamic Republic of Iran has repeatedly lodged formal protests and issued explicit
warnings regarding this approach, both prior to and following the acts of aggressions of June 2025
and February 2026. Regrettably, there appears to be no indication that the Agency intends to rectify past errors or to adhere to a professional, impartial, and technically grounded approach
consistent with the IAEA Statute and the CSA.

I would be grateful if this letter could be formally registered as a document of the United
Nations Security Council and also circulated as an INFCIRC document of the IAEA.