June 20, 2025
Thank you, Madam President. And thank you, Secretary-General for your introductory remarks, and Under-Secretary-General Rosemary DiCarlo and Director General Rafael Grossi, for your briefings.
DG Grossi, we commend the IAEA team for their professionalism in implementing the agency’s critical responsibilities, especially during this complex and evolving situation.
Colleagues, we meet at a decisive moment in the Middle East – convening amid an intensifying conflict between Israel and Iran.
It is not too late for the Government of Iran to do the right thing.
President Trump has been clear in recent days that Iran’s leadership must completely abandon its nuclear enrichment program and all aspirations of acquiring a nuclear weapon.
The Iranian government has long posed a constant menace to the peace and security of its neighbors and the entire world, which this Council is charged to maintain.
The Iranian government has repeatedly called for Israel’s destruction and for “death to America.” They have launched direct and proxy attacks on Israeli civilians, including most recently on southern Israel’s largest hospital, and just recently – in the last couple hours – on Haifa. Iran’s government has also spread chaos, terror, and suffering throughout the region.
Let us not forget that the Iranian government was an enabling ideological and material force behind Hamas’ deadly assault on Israel in October 2023. And it twice attacked Israel last year with hundreds of ballistic missiles.
The Iranian government also encouraged its terrorist proxy Hizballah to open a northern front from Lebanon and enabled Houthi rebels in Yemen to become a menace to global trade and freedom of navigation, and to launch long-range missiles endangering civilians in Israel.
In January 2024, a drone attack from an Iran-backed terrorist group on a U.S. military facility in Jordan killed three American service members.
Enough is enough.
President, as the leaders from the Group of Seven stated earlier this week: Iran is the principal source of instability and terror in the Middle East. The G7 also reaffirmed the right of Israel to defend itself.
While the United States was not involved in Israel’s strikes, let there be no doubt that the United States continues to stand with Israel and supports its actions against Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
Iran’s leaders could have avoided this conflict had they agreed to a deal that would have prevented them from ever obtaining a nuclear weapon, but they refused to do so – choosing instead to delay and deny.
We can no longer ignore that Iran has all that it needs to achieve a nuclear weapon. All it needs is a decision from their Supreme Leader.
That is unacceptable, and this Council must urge them to change course.
The Government of Iran has nothing to gain by escalating their rhetoric toward the IAEA, launching missiles at civilians, threatening neighbors, or pursuing nuclear weapons. For too long they have prioritized terrorism and their nuclear program above the well-being of their own people. Their resulting weakness is now on full display for the entire world.
The Iranian government must abandon its nuclear ambitions so that there is no more destruction – choose, instead, prosperity for their people.
Thank you, Madam President.