Indeed, a grave situation has developed in Iran regarding the application of the IAEA Safeguards Agreement. This is due to the strikes carried out in June by Israel and the United States on Iranian nuclear facilities under IAEA safeguards, in violation of the UN and IAEA Statutes, as well as international law. The Russian Federation strongly condemns these irresponsible, aggressive actions that undermine international norms. Unfortunately, the Agency - neither the member states collectively, nor the Secretariat - have yet to develop an appropriate response to the American-Israeli aggression. At the same time, the perpetrators of the military strikes continue to threaten to carry them out on Tehran, and the IAEA remains silent. What signal does this send to Iran, and what does this say about our credibility as an Agency?

Let us recall that the Iranian sites that were hit - including the uranium enrichment facilities in Fordow and Natanz, the centrifuge components plant in Isfahan, and the modernized reactor under construction in Arak - were under constant Agency monitoring and did not raise any questions in terms of non-diversion of nuclear material to unauthorized purposes. Not to mention that they were all part of the JCPOA agreements. All of these sites were regularly inspected, and Agency inspectors worked there without interruption. In addition, they contained IAEA equipment, which was also destroyed. By the way, we did not see anything in the Director General's reports that would concern material damage caused to the Agency as a result of the strikes.

Despite all this, Israel and the United States chose these sites as their targets. It was they who, with their actions, undermined the international nuclear non-proliferation regime and simultaneously created difficulties in the interaction between the IAEA and Iran. We have repeatedly warned that the Director General's report on the "comprehensive assessment" of the Iranian nuclear program, prepared at the instigation of the United States, Great Britain, Germany and France, and the Board resolution of June 12, which they pushed through, would only lead to escalation. And so it happened - and in the worst and most destructive form. The safeguards system was simply used by these countries to serve political, and this time, military objectives. Therefore, when talking about who really let down the Agency Secretariat - the answer is obvious. The unleashed aggression has resulted in a colossal blow to the global nuclear non-proliferation regime, the basis of which is the NPT and the IAEA verification system.

In this regard, we urge the Agency's leadership to learn from this situation and to act more carefully in the future, calculating in advance the consequences of their assessments and conclusions on verification issues.

We urge the Agency's member states to refrain from attempts to disrupt the implementation of the agreements reached between the IAEA Director General and Iran by interfering in this process with their unconstructive, untimely and biased steps. As practice shows, every provocation by Western countries against Iran at the IAEA site has resulted in the most negative consequences. This time, it has reached a military scenario.

Now it is necessary to channel energy into a constructive channel. The Iranian side is talking about the need to obtain guarantees that its nuclear facilities will not be attacked again by Israel and the United States. We believe this demand is completely justified. Therefore, instead of putting pressure on Iran, the Agency's member states - especially the friends and allies of the United States and Israel - could work with them to obtain this guarantee from them, rather than show solidarity with their bellicose line. It would seem that this would be a reasonable step, and would also help the Secretariat in its further work with Iran.

Unfortunately, at this stage we do not see any intention of constructive interaction from the US. This is clearly evidenced by the unofficial document they distributed at the IAEA site with a reaction to the draft resolution of the 69th session of the General Conference "Prohibition of all forms of attacks and threats of attacks against nuclear facilities under IAEA safeguards", prepared by Iran and a group of co-authors, which includes our country. The statement contained in the document that the IAEA Statute does not prohibit strikes on nuclear installations sends a clear signal that such strikes are possible, normal and acceptable. This is further confirmation of the US readiness to continue the practice of attacks on nuclear infrastructure facilities - and not only in Iran, but wherever they deem necessary. It seems that now we have finally seen what the «rules-based order» is, which American officials have been talking about for many years.

The content of the American informal document demonstrates Washington's consumer attitude towards the IAEA platform and the work of our organization. This is unacceptable. However, there is time to reconsider the approaches. We call on all member states to support the draft of the aforementioned resolution next week. This would be the right step aimed at fulfilling the IAEA mandate and improving the current atmosphere in the Agency.