A day after Iran's censure by the U.N. nuclear watchdog, Israel launched a series of precise attacks on Tehran's nuclear program and military leaders, and Iran launched 100 drones in retaliation, risking all-out regional war.
Aiming to prevent a nuclear-armed adversary, Israel on Friday targeted Iran’s main enrichment facility in Natanz and the country’s ballistic missile program, and killed General Hossein Salami, leader of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, and other top military officials and scientists.
U.S. President Donald Trump blamed Tehran for forcing Israel's hand by failing to accept an offer that he and his Middle East special envoy Steve Witkoff made during nuclear talks.
The International Atomic Energy Agency declared on Thursday that Iran breached its nuclear nonproliferation duties, prompting Tehran's immediate retaliation by announcing a new uranium enrichment facility and "other measures."
The declaration from the Vienna-based IAEA board of governors marking the first time in 20 years it has approved a resolution against Iran, raised the stakes at a time of high tensions, as U.S. and European officials had warned that Israel may be preparing to strike Iran.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the attack on Tehran and several nuclear and military sites as necessary to remove "a clear and present danger to Israel's very survival," while Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei vowed Israel would suffer "harsh punishment" in return.
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres condemned the dramatic military escalation, a spokesperson said, and called on both countries to demonstrate "maximum restraint, avoiding at all costs a descent into deeper conflict, a situation that the region can hardly afford."
The 19-3 vote of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency's 35-nation board, with 11 countries abstaining and two not voting, came in a resolution from France, the United Kingdom and United States – three of the U.N. Security Council's five permanent members – plus Germany. The other two permanent members, China and Russia, plus Burkina Faso, were opposed.
Iran's foreign ministry and national atomic energy agency jointly condemned the board's vote, saying it called into question IAEA's "credibility and prestige." The Iranian Foreign Ministry and Atomic Energy Organization of Iran said the country "has no choice but to respond to this political resolution" and now plans to launch a new enrichment center in a secure location and upgrade its first-generation machines at another site.
The board voted based on a report from IAEA Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi, who said IAEA has not gotten satisfactory answers about the man-made uranium particles it found at each of Iran's three undeclared locations in Varamin, Marivan and Turquzabad.
Iran has repeatedly not answered or failed to provide "technically credible answers to the agency’s questions" and it tried to "sanitize the locations, which has impeded agency verification activities," Grossi told the board.
As a result, he said, the watchdog agency concluded the three locations and possibly others were part of an "undeclared structured nuclear program" until the early 2000s that involved "undeclared nuclear material."
Grossi called Iran's rapid accumulation of highly enriched uranium a matter "of serious concern" and, given the potential proliferation implications, the United Nations nuclear watchdog agency "cannot ignore the stockpiling of over 400 kilograms of highly enriched uranium."
Until Iran provides suitable answers, IAEA "will not be in a position to provide assurance that Iran’s nuclear program is exclusively peaceful," he concluded. "The only way forward goes through a diplomatic solution strongly backed by an IAEA verification arrangement."
NPT could see Iran's exit
Iran has long maintained its nuclear energy program is only for peaceful purposes. It is legally required under the 1970 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty to declare all nuclear material and activities, and to let IAEA inspectors verify everything is used for peaceful purposes.
Before IAEA's vote, Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said any censure of his nation "will compel Iran to react strongly. Blame will lie solely and fully with malign actors who shatter their own relevance."
Tehran suggested it might now consider leaving the landmark NPT, which it ratified but did not sign onto an additional protocol allowing IAEA inspectors to widen their searches for suspected nuclear activity.
The 2015 Iran nuclear deal the U.S. reneged on under the first Trump administration also required Tehran to curb its nuclear program and allow for robust monitoring by the IAEA in exchange for sanctions relief.
With Iran stepping up its uranium enrichment, the second Trump administration has tried to revive the deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. Tensions have risen in recent days between the U.S., Israel and Iran, however, as officials in the U.S. and Europe warn that Israel may be planning an attack on Iran's nuclear sites.
Such an attack would risk setting off a regional war. Trump sounded pessimistic about the indirect nuclear talks with Iran as he announced the Pentagon on Wednesday ordered the withdrawal of U.S. troops and non-essential staff from embassies in Bahrain, Iraq and Kuwait.
Oman's foreign minister, Bad Albusaidi, however, said a sixth round of the talks that his nation has been hosting to find a deal to replace the JCPOA – set to expire on Oct. 18 – would continue this coming Sunday in Muscat.
This story has been updated with additional details of Israel's attack and Iran's response, and reaction from world leaders, on Friday.
