The Speaker of the Iranian Parliament, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf claimed a major diplomatic and legal victory for Iran after Russia, China, and 120 Non-Aligned Movement states supported the end of UN Security Council Resolution 2231 restrictions and rejected Western snapback efforts.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry has issued a statement underlining that, with the expiration on 18 October of UN Security Council Resolution 2231 and the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Iran’s nuclear programme must now be treated like that of any other non-nuclear-weapon state under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). From this point onward, Iran is bound solely by its rights and obligations under the NPT, with no additional limitations either imposed or recognised, it noted.
Iran’s nuclear programme had been under massive sanctions since 1979 imposed by the US and Europe and later also by the UN because of allegations that it was developing a nuclear weapons programme. Sanctions had been lifted in 2015 when Iran signed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA, endorsed by Resolution 2231, with the P5+1 group of countries (the USA, UK, France, Russia, and China plus Germany) under which Iran had agreed to limit its nuclear development programme and allow International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspections of its nuclear facilities.
However, the US withdrew from the JCPOA in 2018, reimposing its unilateral sanctions, which the European states tacitly supported. After a year of fruitless negotiations, Iran, in turn, began to ramp up its nuclear programme again. After more years of unsuccessful negotiations, Israel and the US in June this year launched military strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities as a result of which Iran cut its ties with the IAEA, ending all inspections, which had been ongoing.
Resolution 2231 and the JCPOA expired on 18 October. However, UK, France and Germany (E3), in the run up to the expiry initiated a sanction snapback provision in the treaty to reimpose UN sanctions on the grounds that Iran had rejected E3 demands that it reinstate IAEA inspections. Although Russia and China opposed this action the UN sanctions were formally reimposed.
This has now been declared illegal following two letters signed jointly by Iran, China and Russia. These included the letter from the foreign ministers of Iran, Russia, and China to the UN secretary-general and the president of the Security Council and a letter to the IAEA from the permanent representatives of Iran, Russia, and China at the Vienna-based UN offices.
Qalibaf said that, based on Paragraph 8 of Resolution 2231, all restrictions and obligations under the resolution have expired. He noted that the revocation of previous resolutions continued and that, with the formal recognition of Iran’s right to enrichment, its nuclear file has been removed from the Security Council’s agenda.
Those two joint letters represented not only a legal victory for Iran but also evidence of a shift in global power dynamics, with the world order now divided in the implementation of UN resolutions, Qalibaf stated.
The letter to the IAEA said: “We reaffirm that the invocation of the so-called “snapback” by the E3 is, by its very nature, legally and procedurally flawed. The E3, having themselves violated their commitments under both the JCPOA and United Nations Security Council Resolution 2231, and having failed to exhaust the procedures established under the Dispute Resolution Mechanism (DRM), lack the requisite standing to invoke its provisions. Therefore, we affirm that in accordance with UNSCR 2231, all its provisions have been terminated on 18 October 2025. In light of this termination, the mandate for the IAEA Director General’s reporting on verification and monitoring under the UNSCR 2231 has lapsed.
Meanwhile, Fadahossein Maleki, a member of the Iranian parliament’s national security and foreign policy committee said Iran continues to advance its nuclear programme despite damage to several atomic facilities. Maleki said that the June air strikes had harmed parts of Iran’s nuclear infrastructure but that “work is ongoing” and would not be halted. “Nuclear science has become part of the daily life of our people,” he said.
His comments followed remarks by IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi, who said earlier this week that Iran’s technical expertise had survived the 12-day war in June. In an interview with Le Temps newspaper that Iran now holds enough enriched uranium for ten nuclear weapons if it chose to enrich further, but added there was no evidence Tehran seeks to build one.
Asked about the severity of the damage to Iran’s nuclear facilities, he said: “The damage to key sites in Isfahan, Natanz and Fordow was severe. But even though Trump talks about “obliteration”, Iran’s technical know-how hasn’t vanished. Its centrifuges, which can be used to enrich uranium, can also be rebuilt. In any case, Iran still holds enriched uranium, including around 400 kilos enriched to 60%, just short of weapons-grade level.”
He added: “If it went further, Iran would have enough material for roughly ten nuclear bombs. But we have no evidence that Tehran intends to build one. To be sure of that, inspections must resume. We believe most of the highly enriched uranium remains at Isfahan, Natanz and Fordow. The IAEA inspected those sites just before the Israeli strikes. Since then, we’ve been monitoring them through satellite imagery. Countries tracking Iran’s programme have reached the same conclusions as we have.”
Asked why Iran would agree to international inspections again, he replied: “After the 12-day war, Iran could have cut ties with the international community, withdrawn from the Non-Proliferation Treaty, and become a pariah state like North Korea. It didn’t. I commend that choice, and I’m maintaining diplomatic space by keeping regular contact with foreign minister Abbas Araghchi. For now, Tehran is only allowing inspectors in dribs and drabs. It’s imposing limits out of security concerns – which I understand. But if diplomacy fails, I fear a renewed resort to force.”
In an online speech, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said there’s no basis for trusting Washington after 12-Day US-Israeli aggression, adding that US’s making of excessive demands bars the resumption of talks.
“We have not had any good experience with the US, despite the fact that we have been honest and have opened a way every time. We do not trust and nor will we. But even without trust, we can interact cautiously…. We have said time and again: If the Americans are prepared to hold serious and real negotiations for a mutually beneficial solution, from an equal position, with an honest approach, for an agreement of mutual benefit, rather than unilateral, based on mutual respect, we have never abandoned diplomacy.”
