On 23 June, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) convened an emergency meeting to discuss the U.S. strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities. During the meeting, Ambassador Li Song, China’s Permanent Representative to the IAEA, delivered a statement outlining China’s position.

Ambassador Li stated that the day of June 21 would go down in history. On this day, the United States—a permanent member of the UN Security Council, a depository state and a nuclear-weapon state party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT)—launched military strikes against nuclear facilities under IAEA safeguards in Iran, a non-nuclear-weapon state of the NPT. He described this act as egregious and unprecedented, emphasizing that China strongly condemns such behavior by the United States.

He noted that this action by the U.S. constitutes a serious violation of the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and international law, heightens tensions in the Middle East, and has dealt an unprecedentedly severe blow to the NPT and IAEA regimes, with long-term negative implications. He added that China is gravely concerned about this and firmly opposes the violation of Iran’s sovereignty and security, as well as any armed attacks on nuclear facilities under IAEA safeguards.

(Source: Permanent Mission of China in Vienna)