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The United Nations nuclear watchdog's "political moves" will push countries to exit the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said Thursday, a day after the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) board of governors voted to refer Iran to the U.N. Security Council over its nuclear "non-compliance."
Rezaei's warning came amid a broader flare-up of tensions over Iran's nuclear file, including a bitter clash among permanent U.N. Security Council members over the legal status of previously reimposed sanctions and fresh satellite evidence of construction activity at a suspected Iranian nuclear site that U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to strike.
The IAEA's 35-nation board of governors voted Wednesday to refer Iran to the U.N. Security Council, with the resolution adopted by 23 votes in favor, three against and eight abstentions; Russia, China and Niger voted against it, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The measure, submitted by Britain, France, Germany and the United States, marks the first time Iran has been referred to the Security Council in 20 years over its nuclear reporting obligations, and "requests the (IAEA) director general to report" Iran to the Security Council and the U.N. General Assembly.
The resolution expressed "grave concern" over Iran's "continued non-compliance" with its obligations under the NPT and called on Tehran "to engage seriously and without preconditions in talks aimed at building international confidence in the exclusively peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear programme."
The IAEA has not had access to key Iranian nuclear facilities since Israel and the U.S. launched a 12-day conflict in June 2025 that included strikes on sites at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan. Nuclear facilities were also hit in the war that erupted on Feb. 28, 2026.
Iran's representative to the IAEA in Vienna, Reza Najafi, called the resolution baseless and politically motivated.
"This resolution was passed under political pressure from the U.S. and its allies and in our view has no basis," Najafi told state television, separately telling AFP the measure was "completely counterproductive."
Najafi said Iran has been unable to provide inspectors safe access to its nuclear sites because of the ongoing conflict, but said Tehran has "neither stopped nor suspended its safeguards obligations," adding that "performance is currently impossible under continuing military operations and persistent threats."
He said Iran "will cooperate only to the extent that circumstances and safety permit."
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi accused the U.S. and its co-sponsors of manufacturing a pretext.
"They attack Iran's safeguarded nuclear facilities, disrupt the normal verification process, and then use that very disruption as a pretext to pass a resolution at the IAEA Board of Governors," Gharibabadi wrote on X.
Before the June 2025 strikes, the IAEA calculated that Iran possessed approximately 440 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60%, near weapons-grade and well above the 3.67% limit set under the now-defunct 2015 nuclear deal.
The fate of that stockpile has remained uncertain since.
Because Iran's allies Russia and China hold Security Council veto power, the referral is widely seen as symbolic.
Ali Vaez of the International Crisis Group told AFP that while "some see it as an opportunity to add legal pressure to economic strangulation and naval blockade to turn the screws on Iran," it is "ultimately ... an exercise in futility," since Russia and China are "likely to ensure that Western pressure hits a wall at the Security Council."
Darya Dolzikova of the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) told Al Jazeera she also does not expect the council to adopt a resolution condemning Iran, but said the referral "is intended to send a strong message that the U.S. and the E3 (France, Germany and the U.K.) are unwilling to accept the status quo."
The IAEA vote came a day after the five permanent Security Council members clashed openly during a separate session over the legal validity of previously reimposed U.N. sanctions on Iran under the 2015 nuclear deal's "snapback" mechanism.
Russia's representative argued that U.N. Resolution 2231, which endorsed the nuclear deal, expired Oct. 18, 2025, and that the sanctions committee tied to it "ceased to exist" in 2015, calling a scheduled briefing on the matter a "flagrant procedural breach."
China's envoy backed Moscow, warning that "a few members, in disregard of differences, insist on forcibly reimposing the Council sanctions against Iran and convening Council meetings under a removed agenda item," and expressed "grave concern" and "strong opposition."
Western delegations rejected the challenge.
The British representative said the U.K., France and Germany "initiated the snapback mechanism in full accordance with Security Council Resolution 2231" following Iran's "significant non-performance" under the deal, noting the process concluded Sept. 28, 2025, leaving six Chapter VII resolutions in effect for nearly a year.
The U.S. representative said "the facts are the facts. The 1737 Committee exists," accusing Russia and China of trying to shield Tehran and citing IAEA confirmation that Iran remains non-compliant with its Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement.
The council voted 11-2, with two abstentions, to adopt the provisional agenda over the Russian and Chinese procedural objection.
China's envoy argued that lasting solutions require addressing what Beijing considers the root causes of regional tensions, saying the "United States' unilateral withdrawal from the JCPOA, its use of force against Iran twice during the negotiation process, and its pursuit of a policy of maximum pressure against Iran are the primary causes of the current complex and intractable situation."
China defended Iran's "legitimate right to the peaceful use of nuclear energy" while acknowledging "Iran's repeated commitments not to develop nuclear weapons."
Britain's envoy countered that Iran "is the only country without nuclear weapons to enrich uranium to this level," criticizing Tehran for stockpiling more than 400 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60% without "any credible civilian justification" and accusing it of barring inspectors from all nuclear facilities except Bushehr since June 2025. France warned the stockpile was potentially sufficient for about 10 nuclear devices.
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