Ms. DiCarlo, UN Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, reminded the Council that the best option for the international community is a negotiated agreement that guarantees a peaceful Iranian nuclear program and provides sanctions relief.
At the heart of the division among Security Council members is a dispute over the legitimacy of holding meetings related to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, formally the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), an agreement to limit Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.
Iran signed the agreement together with the five permanent members of the Council – China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States – plus Germany and the European Union (EU).
First post-snapback meeting
Tuesday’s meeting was the first to take place since France, Germany and the United Kingdom activated the so-called “recovery mechanism” (the reimposition of sanctions against Iran), citing a “significant non-compliance” with their commitments under the plan.
UN Security Council meeting on non-proliferation (December 23, 2025)
The United States, United Kingdom, France and other members of the Security Council argued that the Resolution that led to the Nuclear Agreement remains in force and that the Council should therefore continue to meet to discuss the issue of nuclear nonproliferation.
“Iran’s failure to implement its international obligations related to its nuclear program constitutes a serious threat to international peace and security,” said Jay Dharmadhikari, Deputy Permanent Representative of France to the UN. He added that, if taken to military enrichment levels, Iran’s reserves “would be sufficient to produce 10 nuclear explosive devices.”
Iran: ‘No mandate’ for Security Council nonproliferation discussions
Russia’s delegate, Permanent Representative Vassily Nebenzia, took aim at the Slovenian presidency of the Council, lamenting that they had not “found the courage to impartially fulfill their obligation not to act at the behest of those who insisted on holding a Security Council meeting on a non-existent agenda item.”
“The JCPOA Committee no longer exists,” he added. “Therefore, the EU is no longer the coordinator and should therefore not be allowed to report to the UN Security Council.”
Speaking on behalf of Iran, Ambassador Amir-Saeid Iravani insisted that Resolution 2231 (2015) expired on October 18, 2025 and therefore “ceased to have any legal effect or operational mandate.” He concluded that there is “no mandate for the Secretary-General to present any report and no mandate for the Council to hold discussions on it.”
Today, he said, the Council is witnessing “a calculated distortion” of the resolution and the “deliberate dissemination of disinformation” about Iran’s nuclear program.
The representative of the European Union, deputy head of the delegation, Hedda Samson, speaking as an observer, expressed a different opinion. “The resumption of nuclear sanctions and restrictions should not be the end of diplomacy, but quite the opposite,” he stressed, calling on Iran to provide the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) with updated and verifiable statements on the quantity and whereabouts of nuclear material and related activities.