The Priorities for 2026 NPT Review Conference (2)

Any armed attack on safeguarded nuclear facilities is directly linked to the very object and purpose as well as the letter and spirit of the Non-Proliferation Treaty

The unprecedented unlawful armed attacks by the US and the Israeli regime on Iran’s peaceful safeguarded nuclear installations in 2025 and 2026 had serious far-reaching adverse consequences on the effectiveness and credibility of the overall global non-proliferation norms and architecture.

These aggressions also further eroded the trust and confidence in the NPT, fundamentally undermined the role and relevance of the safeguards system established under this Treaty, and irreparably damaged the IAEA’s standing and authority.

Moreover, at a time of increasing and widespread role of nuclear energy in development of States in economic, scientific, technological, medical, agricultural and other fields, such aggressions created a sense of chaos, lawlessness and uncertainty with respect to the full and effective realization of the inalienable right to develop research, production and use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes without discrimination.

Accordingly, the 2026 NPT Review Conference must consider, substantively and comprehensively, the prohibition of armed attacks on safeguarded nuclear facilities.

To be precise, its Final Document must explicitly and unequivocally declare that any armed attack on safeguarded nuclear facilities is a serious material breach of the prohibition of the “use of force” under Article 2(4) of the UN Charter, and other relevant norms of international law, and constitutes an attack against the NPT, the IAEA Statute and the Agency’s safeguards system, in particular by seriously jeopardizing the development of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, and gravely damaging the credibility of the overall global non-proliferation norms and architecture. This is indeed the key for the success of the Conference.