Iran crisis: Nuclear watchdog urges restraint amid ongoing strikes

This article is published in association with United Nations.

As the violent escalation in the Middle East entered a third day on Monday sparked by the bombing of Iran by Israel and the United States, the head of the UN atomic energy agency urged a return to diplomacy, given the “increasing risk to nuclear safety” in the region.

Speaking in Vienna, the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, noted that there was no indication that any of Iran’s nuclear installations, including the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, the Tehran Research Reactor and other nuclear fuel cycle facilities had been damaged.

Meanwhile at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Gulf States impacted by Iranian retaliatory strikes involving ballistic missiles and drones condemned attacks against their sovereignty and urged Tehran to stop all “hostile escalation” that could jeopardize regional stability.

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To date, missile strikes have been reported in Bahrain, Jordan, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), in addition to Israel, whose military responded to Hezbollah strikes from Lebanon on Monday. 

There are indications that 550 civilians have been killed in Iran since the country came under attack on Saturday. Targets have included Tehran’s Gandhi Hospital which sustained damage on Sunday, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said, citing reports. 

“It serves as a reminder that all efforts must be taken to prevent health facilities from being caught up in the ongoing conflict. Health facilities are protected under international humanitarian law,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote in an online post.

Addressing the UN Human Rights Council in the Swiss city, Shahad Matar for the UAE alleged that Iranian attacks since Saturday 28 February had killed three civilians and injured 58 more. “This blatant and cowardly attack is a violent…blatant violation of our sovereignty, international law and UN Charter,” Ms. Shahad insisted.

Echoing those comments, Naser Abdullah H. M. Alhayen for Kuwait condemned Iranian missile attacks and affirmed the country’s right to defend its territory and people, in line with Article 51 of the UN Charter.

Deadly school strike update

In response, Iran told the Human Rights Council that the country has continued to come under “indiscriminate and invasive” attack, a day after Tehran confirmed the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, during a strike on the Supreme Leader’s compound in the capital.

“In recent days, schools have been bombed, hospitals subjected to indiscriminate attacks, civilian leaders including the spiritual and religious Supreme Leader, have been assassinated, and the headquarters of the Iranian Red Crescent, along with many other non-military buildings, have been destroyed,” Iran’s Ali Bahreini maintained.

Responding to reports that a primary school was hit on Saturday in Minab, southern Iran, Mr. Bahreini said that more than 160 schoolgirls had been killed. 

Threat of further escalation

“The ongoing unlawful military aggression against Iran exemplifies the dominance of raw power over the principles of human rights,” the Human Rights Council heard.

Earlier on Monday, Iran also issued a letter to countries attending the UN Conference on Disarmament meeting in Geneva on Monday, insisting on its right to self-defence “for as long as the aggression endures”.

All U.S. military “bases, facilities and assets” are now “legitimate targets” as a result of the “war of aggression”, the Iranian Permanent Mission to the UN in Geneva insisted.

Nuclear incident fears

Back in Vienna, IAEA chief Grossi underscored the risk of a nuclear incident from the military escalation since Iran “and many other countries in the region that have been subjected to military attacks have operational nuclear power plants and nuclear research reactors”.

Addressing a special meeting of the IAEA Board in the Austrian capital, Mr. Grossi said that radiation levels had remained normal in countries bordering Iran since the bombing began. 

And as the Israeli military began launching strikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, Mr. Grossi urged “utmost restraint in all military operations”.

He noted that the UAE has four operating nuclear reactors while Jordan and Syria have operational nuclear research reactors. “Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia have also been attacked,” he said, stressing that they “all use nuclear applications of some sort or the other”.