An emergency meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was convened in Vienna following recent U.S. airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.
IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi warned that the strikes may have caused “very significant” damage to Iran’s underground Fordow uranium enrichment plant, although a full assessment is still pending. He also urged Tehran to allow inspectors back into its nuclear sites to verify Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium.
Iran’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Vienna, Reza Najafi, condemned the U.S. attacks, calling them a “blatant violation of international law” and a threat to global peace and security.
Speaking to reporters, Najafi declared that Iran would exercise its right to self-defence in response to the attacks. “As long as the source of the threat persists,” Najafi said, “the Islamic Republic of Iran will continue to undertake necessary, resolute, and proportionate measures to neutralise it at a time, place and manner of its own choosing, in full exercise of its inherent right to self-defence under Article 51 of the United Nations Charter.”
