Forcing Through Confrontational Iran Resolution Only Worsens Situation: Chinese Envoy

By Xinhua

Nov 21, 2025 07:26 AM

It only makes things worse to forcibly push for the Iran-related confrontational resolution at the Board of Governors meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said a Chinese envoy Thursday at the meeting.

Countries that wantonly used force and obsessively pursued confrontation and pressure are to blame for the current predicament of the Iran nuclear issue, said Li Song, China's permanent representative to the IAEA.

The Board of Governors meeting on Thursday voted to pass a resolution jointly proposed by the United States, Britain, France and Germany. Among the 34 member states with voting rights, China, Russia and Niger voted against the resolution, while 12 developing countries including Brazil, South Africa, India, Egypt and Thailand abstained.

Li noted that Israel and the United States had brazenly attacked Iranian nuclear facilities under IAEA safeguards in June this year, leading to a major reversal in the situation surrounding the Iran nuclear issue. Such an act must be strongly condemned by the international community and the IAEA, he said.

Li recalled that in September the IAEA director general and Iran reached the Cairo Agreement, which was a positive development and should have served as an important opportunity for the two sides to fully restore safeguards cooperation. However, the European trio of Britain, France and Germany single-mindedly pushed ahead with triggering the snapback mechanism to swiftly restore sanctions, seriously undermining the good momentum of cooperation between Iran and the IAEA, he said.

The Iran nuclear issue can only be properly resolved on the premise of fully respecting Iran's legitimate right as a party to the NPT (the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons) to peacefully use nuclear energy while ensuring the peaceful nature of its nuclear program, Li said, adding that the issue could only be resolved through political and diplomatic efforts and safeguards cooperation within the IAEA framework.

Li said that under the current situation, the Board of Governors should create favorable conditions for cooperation and dialogue between Iran and IAEA and for a new round of political and diplomatic efforts on the Iran nuclear issue, and should avoid provoking confrontation.

Iran and the United States were set for a sixth round of nuclear talks when Israel launched major surprise airstrikes on several areas in Iran, including nuclear and military sites, on June 13. On June 22, U.S. forces joined the attacks by bombing three Iranian nuclear facilities.