‘Leave the fire and take Trump’s hand,’ US envoy tells Iran at UN

Speaking during the session, Beijing and Moscow envoys rejected claims by France, Germany and the United Kingdom that Resolution 2231 remains in force and that international sanctions on Iran have automatically returned.

Both argued that the resolution expired in October and that the Council no longer has a mandate to consider Iran’s nuclear file.

China’s deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, Sun Lei, described the European move as riddled with “legal and procedural loopholes,” noting that the Council had never reached consensus on whether the European trio had the authority to activate snapback.

“Resolution 2231 expired on October 18, and the Council has ceased its considerations on the Iranian nuclear issue,” Sun added.

Russian envoy Vasily Nebenzya said neither the Security Council nor the UN Secretariat had any remaining mandate on Iran, calling the meeting “a blatant attempt” by Western members to create the impression that Resolution 2231 and the snapback mechanism remain in force.

He warned that such efforts would deepen rifts within the Council “not only politically, but also on legal and procedural matters.”

'Not arbitrary'

Britain and the United States rejected those arguments outright.

Archie Young, the United Kingdom’s deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, said the meeting was “fully in line with the decisions and procedure of this Council” and that London, alongside Paris and Berlin, had triggered snapback “in full accordance with Security Council Resolution 2231.”

“We did so because of Iran’s significant non-performance of its commitments under the JCPOA,” Young said, referring to the 2015 nuclear deal.

US representative Jeff Bartos also defended the sanctions' return as a consequence of Tehran's actions.

"These resolutions are not arbitrary or punitive," he said, "but rather narrowly scoped to address a nuclear program that seeks to operate out of view of the international community and in continued noncompliance with its Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Mandated Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement with the IAEA,as reaffirmed last month by the IAEA Board."

"The United States continues to prefer a negotiated solution to this matter," Bartos added.

'Masks off'

Russia's envoy accused the United States and Israel of derailing diplomacy by airstrikes on Iran in June.

"There were five rounds of indirect negotiations, and the parties agreed to meet for a sixth round. However, two days before that, Israel opted for a military escalation and struck Iranian territory, including civilian nuclear facilities that were under IAEA safeguards. A week later, Western Jerusalem was joined by the U.S. in this misadventure," he told the council.

"In 2025, Western countries took their masks off once and for all regarding the settlement of the Iranian nuclear program. If anyone still had any doubts as to their real position, then these positions have been revealed now once and for all."

'Deliberate disinformation'

Iran's ambassador to the UN Amir Saeed Iravani echoed his Chinese and Russian counterparts in objecting to the convening of the security council meeting.

What we are witnessing is not a legitimate disagreement over interpretation but a calculated distortion of Resolution 2231 to deliberate dissemination of disinformation regarding Iran's peaceful nuclear program and a cynical attempt to abuse this Council for their narrow political interests," Iravani said.

"The root causes of the current situation are clear and did not emerge overnight or in isolation. They lie in the unilateral withdrawal of the United States from the JCPOA in 2018, the sustained and deliberate non-compliance of the three European countries with their commitments and the subsequent military aggression by the United States and the Israeli regime against Iran's peaceful safeguard nuclear facilities."

'Negotiated settlement'

UN under-secretary-general Rosemary A. DiCarlo tried to bring a divided council together with emphasis on continued diplomacy.

"Notwithstanding the significant differences between the relevant parties ... all of them have continued to emphasize the importance of a diplomatic solution and expressed overall readiness to engage with each other for this purpose," DiCarlo said.

"A negotiated settlement that would secure the overall objectives of ensuring a peaceful Iranian nuclear program and providing sanctions relief is the best option available to the international community."

Araghchi said he had previously been in contact with Witkoff over Iran’s nuclear program but that Tehran decided months ago to suspend that channel.

“I had been in contact with Steve Witkoff, but not in recent days, because for several months we decided to stop these contacts,” Araghchi said in an interview with Russian media during a visit to Moscow.

He said Iran and the United States had held five rounds of talks and had scheduled a sixth for June 15, but that the process was disrupted days earlier by Israeli strikes on Iran, followed by US involvement.

“We had even set a sixth round for June 15, but two days before that the Israelis attacked us. This attack was unprovoked and illegal, and the United States then joined it,” he said.

Araghchi said Iran remained willing to reach an agreement through diplomacy but rejected what he described as imposed terms.

“We are ready for a fair and balanced agreement achieved through negotiations, but we are not ready to accept dictates,” he said.

He said Tehran was prepared to provide full assurances that its nuclear program is peaceful, as it did under the 2015 nuclear deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which placed limits on Iran’s nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief.

“We are ready to give full assurances that our program is peaceful and will remain peaceful forever. This is exactly what we did in 2015, and it worked,” Araghchi said.

Araghchi criticized the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for failing to condemn attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities that he said were peaceful and operating under international safeguards.

“It is deeply regrettable that the agency and its director-general did not condemn the attack on a peaceful nuclear facility that was under IAEA safeguards,” he said.

He said Iran remained committed to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and willing to cooperate with the IAEA, but questioned how inspections should be conducted at sites that had been attacked.

“We are a committed member of the NPT and ready to cooperate with the agency, but we have a simple question: how should a nuclear facility that has been attacked be inspected? There is no precedent for this,” he said.

Iran’s top diplomat repeated that Iran viewed uranium enrichment as both a legal right and a matter of national dignity.

“We have two experiences: one of diplomacy, which succeeded, and one of military action, which failed,” Araghchi said. “The choice now lies with the United States.”

“They are preparing to make the case during an upcoming meeting with Trump that it poses a new threat,” NBC News said, citing a person with direct knowledge of the plans and four former US officials briefed on the matter.

Israeli officials believe Iran is rebuilding facilities linked to ballistic missile production and repairing air defenses damaged in earlier strikes, which they view as more urgent than nuclear enrichment efforts, NBC reported.

“The nuclear weapons program is very concerning. There’s an attempt to reconstitute. It’s not that immediate,” one person familiar with the plans told NBC, referring to Iran’s nuclear activities.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to raise the issue when he meets Trump later this month, including options for US support or participation in any future action, the report said.

Trump's warning

Trump has repeatedly said US strikes in June destroyed Iran’s nuclear capabilities and warned Tehran against trying to rebuild.

“If they do want to come back without a deal, then we’re going to obliterate that one, too,” Trump said earlier this month. “We can knock out their missiles very quickly.”

A White House spokesperson said the International Atomic Energy Agency and Iran had corroborated the US assessment that the strikes “totally obliterated” Iran’s nuclear capabilities.

June strikes and inspections dispute

Israel launched strikes on Iran on June 13, targeting nuclear facilities, senior military figures and scientists, accusing Tehran of pursuing a covert nuclear weapons program. The US followed with strikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities on June 22.

Iran, which denied the accusations, responded with missile attacks including on a US base in Qatar.

The episode comes as the IAEA presses Iran for access to damaged nuclear sites at Natanz, Fordow and Isfahan, saying it must decide whether the sites are inaccessible, a demand Tehran has rejected as unreasonable.

“The simplest task is to build a nuclear bomb, because it does not need fuel control and explodes at once,” Behrouz Kamalvandi said on Saturday, calling it much simpler than developing a nuclear power plant.

“Building a nuclear power plant, which needs control of fuel and reaction levels, is difficult and technical.”

Kamalvandi said Iran has reached "the edge of power in the nuclear field, and there is no unknown issue left for us."

Before a 12-day war in June that culminated in US airstrikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities and paused any uranium enrichment in Iran, the country was enriching uranium to near weapons-grade purity levels.

While Tehran denies seeking a nuclear weapon, the United States and Western countries want Iran to end uranium enrichment, arguing that enrichment beyond 20% has no civilian purpose.

UN inspections

The UN nuclear watchdog has resumed inspection activities in Iran but remains unable to access several of the country’s most sensitive nuclear sites following June strikes, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi said last week.

“We are only allowed to access sites that were not hit,” he said, calling the resumption important but insufficient.

Grossi said Iran cannot unilaterally decide whether inspectors may enter the damaged facilities.

“If they say it is unsafe and inspectors cannot go there, then inspectors must be allowed to confirm that this is indeed the case,” Grossi said in an interview with Russian state media. “That determination has to be made by the agency.”

100%

Kamalvandi, however, says the UN nuclear watchdog's requests are unreasonable.

“The agency’s insistence that access and inspections take place strictly under a safeguards agreement written for non-war conditions is unreasonable,” he said.

Kamalvandi said Iran believes the current safeguards framework cannot be applied in the same way after military attacks.

“This framework was written for ordinary circumstances,” he said. “When nuclear facilities and materials are damaged in a military attack, the conditions are different.”

He said granting access to Natanz, Fordow and Isfahan while security threats persist could endanger Iran, and added that Tehran is considering other ways to account for nuclear material without inspectors entering the sites.

The standoff follows the June war that began with Israeli strikes on June 13 on nuclear facilities, senior military figures and nuclear scientists, followed by the US attacks on June 22.

Grossi said the three sites at Natanz, Fordow and Isfahan bombed by the US are central to uranium processing, conversion and enrichment, but stressed that Iran’s nuclear program extends well beyond them.

“Iran has much more than these three facilities,” he said. “It has a very developed nuclear program, with research activities and many other sites.”

He cited Iran’s operating nuclear power plant at Bushehr and plans for additional reactors, including projects with Russia, adding: “Work continues in all these areas.”

The IAEA has long sought answers from Iran over past nuclear activities and the whereabouts of undeclared nuclear material, issues Grossi has said cannot be resolved without access to relevant sites.

"Iran has never rejected negotiations and dialogue based on respect for the Iranian nation’s legal rights and legitimate interests, but considers talks based on one-sided imposition unacceptable," official media cited Araghchi as saying.

Araghchi criticized the "irresponsible" stance of the three European powers on Iran's nuclear program, saying that Tehran is open to talks respecting its legal rights and legitimate interests but rejects unilateral imposition.

Cooper underlined Britain's commitment to diplomacy on the nuclear dossier. No UK readout of the call has been issued.

The three European countries—France, Germany, and the United Kingdom—triggered the Iran nuclear deal snapback mechanism in August, leading to the reimposition of UN sanctions in September.

Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reached a technical understanding in Cairo in September, mediated by Egypt, aimed at gradually restoring inspectors’ access to nuclear sites.

Following the return of UN sanctions on Iran, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that the United States and three European powers had “killed” the Cairo nuclear agreement through what he called a sequence of hostile actions.

Araghchi said last month that Washington’s approach amounted to “dictation, not negotiation,” accusing the US of trying to achieve through diplomacy what it failed to gain by force.

“They want us to accept zero enrichment and limits on our defense capabilities,” he said. “This is not negotiation.”

Trump said Iran could avoid past and by reaching a nuclear deal, adding that any attempt to revive its program without an agreement would prompt further US action. He has repeatedly said Iran missed an earlier chance to avert the strikes by accepting a deal.