Iran: Emergency Briefing
Tomorrow morning (20 June), the Security Council will hold an emergency open briefing on the ongoing hostilities between Iran and Israel. The meeting, which will be held under the “Threats to international peace and security” agenda item, was requested by Iran in a letter dated 18 June (S/2025/391). Algeria, China, Pakistan, and Russia supported the meeting request. Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi are the requested briefers, but they had not yet been confirmed at the time of writing. Iran and Israel are expected to participate in the briefing under rule 37 of the Council’s provisional rules of procedure.
The fighting between the countries began on 13 June, when Israel launched strikes on over 100 targets in Iran, including nuclear facilities, missile factories, and air defence systems. It also conducted targeted killings of several Iranian military commanders and nuclear scientists. Since then, Israel claims that it has achieved air supremacy over Iran and has expanded its range of targets to include energy infrastructure and state institutions, including Iran’s national broadcaster. According to media reports citing the Iranian Ministry of Health, the attacks had killed 224 people and injured 1,277 others as at 15 June. Authorities said that 90 percent of the casualties were civilians.
Iran has retaliated with a series of drone and ballistic missile strikes against Israel. Israeli air defence systems have reportedly intercepted between 80 and 90 percent of the projectiles, but some have hit military and energy facilities, residential areas, and a hospital complex, killing at least 24 people and injuring hundreds as at 16 June. The pace of Iranian strikes has reportedly decreased in recent days as Iran attempts to preserve its missile stock and Israel continues to damage the country’s missile launchers and siloes.
The Natanz nuclear enrichment facility was among the initial targets hit by the Israeli strikes. The site is Iran’s largest enrichment facility and has produced most of the country’s highly enriched uranium. Briefing the Security Council at its 13 June emergency meeting on Israel’s initial attack, Grossi said that the strikes had damaged the facility’s above-ground pilot fuel enrichment plant as well as its power supply. He initially said that there was no indication of direct damage to the underground enrichment plant, but the IAEA later reported that analysis of satellite imagery had identified “additional elements” that indicate “direct impacts” on the underground facilities. On Monday (16 June), Grossi reported that four buildings at the Isfahan nuclear research complex had been damaged as well. External radioactivity at both sites remained at normal levels, according to Grossi. The Fordow enrichment plant—which is buried deeper underground than Natanz—had reportedly been targeted but not impacted by the attack. Subsequent strikes have damaged two Iranian centrifuge production facilities and an inactive heavy water research reactor.
In a 17 June letter to the Security Council (S/2025/390), Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said that the aim of the military operation was to “neutralize the existential and imminent threat” from Iran’s nuclear weapon and ballistic missile programmes by targeting facilities and individuals involved in those programmes. The letter argued that Israel had launched the operation “as a measure of last resort”, saying that “diplomacy proved ineffective” and that the strikes represented “the last window of opportunity to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons”. While the letter described the dismantlement of Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programmes as the official aim of the operation, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also suggested that it could result in regime change.
In its 18 June letter to the Council, Iran described Israel’s attack as a “deliberate, premeditated, and large-scale act of aggression” carried out “in full coordination” with the US, accusing both countries of waging an unlawful war against Iran’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. The letter said that the strikes targeted critical civilian infrastructure, residential areas, hospitals, the Iranian Red Crescent Society headquarters, and “peaceful nuclear facilities operating under IAEA safeguards”, calling them a grave breach of international law and the UN Charter. It urged the Council to condemn Israel’s assaults; prevent further attacks, including by external powers; and take binding measures to halt Israel’s actions. It also reaffirmed Iran’s right to self-defence under Article 51 of the UN Charter and said that it would continue to exercise that right until the assault ends and the Council fulfils its responsibilities.
Israel launched its offensive amid rising international concern about Iran’s nuclear activities. Last week, the IAEA Board of Governors (BoG) adopted a resolution—put forward by France, Germany, the UK, and the US—declaring Iran in breach of its non-proliferation obligations for the first time in nearly 20 years. The resolution referred to the findings of a BoG-mandated “comprehensive report” that the IAEA submitted to member states in late May, detailing Iran’s activities at undeclared nuclear sites in the country and its lack of cooperation with the Agency’s investigation into those activities. The resolution said that the report “gives rise to questions that are within the competence of the United Nations Security Council”, suggesting that the BoG may refer the matter to the Council. In response, Iran said that it would activate a new enrichment facility. The Israeli attack on Iran started several hours after this announcement.
As international pressure on Iran mounted, the country had continued negotiating with the US on a bilateral agreement to curb its nuclear programme—which it claims is for civilian purposes—in exchange for sanctions relief. Last month, the US proposed a framework under which Iran would give up its national enrichment capabilities and instead join a regional consortium that would enrich uranium for civilian nuclear purposes under monitoring by the US and the IAEA. Iran appeared poised to reject that proposal when Israel launched its offensive. The country subsequently cancelled the next round of talks with the US that was scheduled to take place on 15 June, but some of its officials have maintained that Iran remains open to negotiations. Tomorrow, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is scheduled to meet in Geneva with his counterparts from France, Germany, and the UK. The US is not expected to participate.
While US President Donald Trump had previously expressed a preference for a diplomatic solution to Iran’s nuclear programme, he has since welcomed Israel’s attack, suggesting that it may force Iran to negotiate more seriously or force the country’s “unconditional surrender”. According to media reports, the Trump administration is now considering whether to join the Israeli operation, as only the US is believed to have the capability to destroy Iran’s underground Fordow plant, which would likely require the deployment of a powerful US-made “bunker-busting bomb”. At a press briefing today (19 June), White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt read a statement from Trump that referred to the possibility of resuming negotiations toward a diplomatic solution and said that he would make his decision “whether or not to go within the next two weeks”. Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has warned that any US involvement would prompt a response causing “irreparable damage”.
At tomorrow’s briefing, speakers are likely to reiterate their main messages from the Council’s 13 June meeting on Israel’s initial strikes. At that session, DiCarlo maintained that a peaceful resolution through negotiations remains the best way to ensure the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear programme, cautioning against a “growing conflagration that would have enormous global consequences”. Grossi stressed that nuclear facilities must never be targeted, warning that such attacks “have serious implications for nuclear safety, security and safeguards, as well as regional and international peace and security”. Members such as Algeria, Pakistan, and Russia condemned Israel’s offensive as a violation of international law, supported Iran’s right to defend itself, and disputed Israel’s contention that diplomatic channels had been exhausted, referring to the ongoing Iran-US talks. France and the UK stressed that Iran must never obtain nuclear weapons but also urged de-escalation, restraint, and renewed diplomatic efforts to address the crisis—a call most other members also made. The US deferred to Israel’s assessment that it was required to act in self-defence and acknowledged that the US had received advance notice of the operation, but it stressed that it had not participated in it and that the country’s top priority was the protection of US personnel and assets in the region.
