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United States and Iranian diplomats clashed at the United Nations as a review conference meant to prevent the spread of atomic weapons got underway Monday, setting the tone for confrontations expected throughout the monthlong session. The dispute focused on Iran’s nuclear program and whether Tehran is meeting obligations under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.
The immediate flashpoint at the conference came as Iran secured a leadership role in the proceedings: Iran was elected as one of 34 vice presidents of the review conference, where 191 countries are reviewing NPT implementation as they have done every five years since the treaty took effect in 1970. The conference election also reflected Iran’s bid for support among what has been dubbed the “nonaligned movement,” a bloc of 121 mostly developing countries.
Christopher Yeaw, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for arms control and nonproliferation, used the opening speeches to attack Iran’s posture. Yeaw said that even if there were “differing views about Iran’s ultimate intent and how to address its program,” Iran had shown “contempt” for its NPT commitments, arguing the conference should have used the review to defend the treaty’s integrity and “call Iran to account.” Yeaw also said it was “beyond shameful and an embarrassment to the credibility of this conference” that the review meeting elected Iran as a vice president.
Iran rejected the U.S. critique as politically driven. Reza Najafi, Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations in Vienna, called the U.S. allegations “baseless and politically motivated,” and said Iran opposed the United States as a vice president of the review conference. Najafi also accused the United States of violating the treaty by expanding its nuclear arsenal and of obstructing progress toward a Middle East free of nuclear weapons by supporting Israel.
Najafi said attacks by the United States and Israel on Iran’s “peaceful nuclear facilities” were “a grave violation of international law” and “a direct assault on the integrity of the global nonproliferation” regime. He further argued that the U.N. review’s central concern—how Iran meets NPT requirements—could not be separated from the broader record of U.S. actions related to Iran.
The conference opened against a background of heightened tensions between Washington and Tehran, which have sharpened in the run-up to what the AP described as an “Iran war.” Iran says its nuclear work is for civilian purposes, while the United States says the program is incompatible with the NPT’s aims. Iran is party to the treaty and is required to cooperate with the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, but the United States said Iran has not given International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors access to nuclear sites that were bombed by the United States last June.
In his remarks, Russian Ambassador-at-Large Andrey Belousov objected to what he characterized as singling out Iran and said he hoped the criticism and “politicization” beginning on day one would not determine the outcome. Belousov said he expected the conference to be successful, even as the opening session turned into a direct contest over Iran’s compliance.
The opening also underscored the wider diplomatic constraints facing the NPT review. For the first time in decades, António Guterres, the U.N. secretary-general, said, the number of nuclear warheads is rising and nuclear testing is on the table, while treaty commitments remain unfulfilled. He urged countries “to stand together and safeguard humanity from the grave threat of nuclear annihilation,” calling on them to recommit to disarmament and nonproliferation and warning that even as technology advances into an era of artificial intelligence and quantum computing, “until nuclear weapons are eliminated, humanity never cedes control over their use.”
The conference’s start comes after the last NPT review effort collapsed amid disputes tied to the war in Ukraine. In August 2022, delayed for a year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Russia blocked agreement on a final document over references to Moscow’s occupation of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant and shelling at Europe’s largest nuclear power facility.
The U.S.-Iran antagonism also played out in parallel diplomacy beyond New York. Also Monday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to Russia’s Tass state news agency, in a meeting that arrived as Russia—so far broadly staying out of the latest conflict—has been floated as a potential channel related to Iran’s highly enriched uranium.
Under the NPT, the treaty’s five original nuclear powers—the United States, China, Russia, Britain and France—agreed to negotiate toward eliminating their arsenals, while nations without nuclear weapons promised not to acquire them in exchange for the ability to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.