Iran Statement at IAEA GC70: Efficiency and Effectiveness of IAEA Decision Making Process
Statement by the Delegation of the Islamic Republic of Iran before the Committee of the Whole of the 70th IAEA General Conference on “Promotion of Efficiency and Effectiveness of IAEA Decision Making Process” (Vienna 16 September 2026)
In the Name of God, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful
Madam Chair
I have the honour to introduce this item on behalf of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The continued inclusion of this item on the Conference’s agenda for 14 consecutive years shows that important institutional concerns has remained unresolved.
The ultimate goal of introducing this agenda item is to promote the Agency’s efficiency and effectiveness by helping ensure that its decision-making processes are objective, impartial, inclusive, transparent and fully consistent with the Statute.
Legal Framework
The Statute provides the proper basis for our discussion. Under Article II, the Agency’s objective is to accelerate and enlarge the contribution of atomic energy to peace, health and prosperity throughout the world.
Article III assigns the Agency important functions in peaceful applications and technical cooperation. It also requires the Agency to use its resources efficiently and for the greatest possible general benefit, while taking into account the special needs of developing countries.
Article IV also provides that every Member State shall enjoy the rights and benefits of membership.
Article V defines the General Conference’s authority, and Article VI underlines that the Board carries out its functions subject to its responsibilities to the General Conference.
These provisions are not merely general statements. They form the legal and institutional framework within which the Agency must operate.
Rebalancing the Relationship between the General Conference and the Board of Governors
The General Conference represents the entire membership, with all Member States participating on an equal basis. While it is the Agency’s supreme policymaking organ, in practice, its role in some important areas has been limited to approving results negotiated in a smaller format—the Board.
This necessitates rebalancing the relationship between these organs. Accordingly, the policymaking role of the Conference must be fully restored and respected. The Board must also function within the limits established by the Statute.
Depoliticization, Impartiality and Objectivity of the Agency’s Work
The increasing politicization of the Agency’s work is a real and growing concern. The political priorities and influence of a particular group of States has unfortunately undermined the objectivity, impartiality and independence of the Agency, particularly the Board, with two serious consequences.
First, it prevents the Board from taking principled and effective action on matters within its core mandate. Its dead silence and inaction regarding unlawful attacks in 2025 and 2026 by the US and the Israeli regime against Iran’s peaceful safeguarded nuclear facilities is a clear example.
The Agency, particularly the Board, is increasingly unwilling to respond to such threats, despite its statutory mandate to act promptly, effectively and consistently, regardless of political alignment or external pressure.
Second, selective approach and double standards undermine the technical, scientific and legal functions of the Agency, and further erode confidence in its work, integrity and credibility.
Agency decisions must be based on the Statute, objective evidence, safeguards obligations and the technical findings of the Secretariat. This means that similar situations should lead to similar institutional responses.
Furthermore, the independence and impartiality of the Secretariat must not be compromised. It should not be instrumentalized including through financial contributions or political pressure.
Article VII requires the Secretariat staff to perform their duties in accordance with their international responsibilities and to avoid seeking or receiving instructions from any external source.
The Secretariat must strengthen its internal oversight to ensure full compliance with these rules and also the rules governing confidentiality.
Achieving a More Equitable Allocation of the Agency’s Regular Budget
Agency’s current practice in prioritizing safeguards over technical cooperation and assistance in allocating the Agency’s regular budget is clearly inconsistent with Articles III and IV of the Statute. It neither ensures the efficient use of resources for the greatest possible general benefit nor takes into account the special needs of developing countries, both of which are required by the Statute.
As the Group of 77 has consistently emphasized, this practice does not reflect a balance among the Agency’s three pillars: peaceful uses, including technical cooperation, safety and safeguards.
Conditioning technical assistance on politically driven extrabudgetary contributions further increases the IAEA’s vulnerability to external pressure, erodes the Agency’s independence, impartiality and long-term sustainability, and weakens Member States’ equal enjoyment of the benefits of membership.
Modernizing the General Conference’s Voting Procedures
The present voting procedures of the General Conference are outdated, slow, resource-intensive and vulnerable to avoidable errors, and therefore require modernization. Electronic voting, already used in other forums like the UN General Assembly, can become the normal method for non-secret ballots in the Conference.
This would neither change the voting rights of States nor the applicable voting thresholds. It would only modernize how those rights and thresholds are applied.
This would also improve accuracy, transparency and efficiency, reduce the administrative burden, and allow more time for substantive deliberations.
Rationalization and Streamlining of General Conference Resolutions
As broadly expressed by many delegations last year and this year, the length and complexity of General Conference resolutions has substantially increased over the past decades. This has resulted in negative consequences, diverted resolutions from their core institutional function and reduced their effectiveness. Accordingly, halting and reversing this trend through a rationalization and streamlining process has become both imperative and urgent. This is essential to restoring resolutions to their core function: serving as clear, focused and meaningful instruments for policy guidance, decisions, requests for action and follow-up.
Transition to Digital Administration
Although official documents are available electronically, large quantities of paper documents continue to be printed and distributed. Unnecessary printing should therefore be reduced and ultimately ended. The Secretariat should establish a roadmap to that end. This would save time and resources and reflect the environmental responsibilities of the Organization.
Based on our consultations with the Secretariat, we understand that positive steps have been taken with regard to electronic voting and reducing reliance on printed copies. We welcome the fact that the proposals we put forward have been taken into consideration and that practical measures have been initiated in this regard.
The Way Forward
We propose the following practical measures:
- Ensuring an appropriate balance between the General Conference and the Board of Governors;
- Depoliticizing Agency’s work and ensuring consistency in institutional responses to similar situations;
- Ensuring a balanced allocation of the regular budget among the Agency’s three pillars;
- Introducing secure electronic voting at the General Conference; and
- Phasing out unnecessary printing and completing the transition to digital administration.
Finally, the Agency was established in a very different international environment. Its practices and working methods must evolve in line with the realities of modern multilateralism.
Ultimately, we must ensure that the Agency remains technically strong, legally sound, politically impartial, and institutionally effective and efficient.
Thank you, Madam Chair