UNITED NATIONS – Iran, Russia, China and nine other countries issued a joint statement declaring that all forms of attack and threats of attack against nuclear facilities under International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards must be prohibited, in a declaration read at the First Committee of the 81st session of the UN General Assembly.
The statement was co-sponsored by Belarus, Burkina Faso, Cuba, Eritrea, Nicaragua, Niger, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Zimbabwe alongside Iran, Russia and China. 
The signatories affirmed the inalienable and non-discriminatory right of all states to develop and use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, and characterized any attack or threat of attack on nuclear facilities as a violation of the principles of the UN Charter, international law and the IAEA Statute.
Citing relevant UN Security Council and IAEA resolutions, the countries warned that such attacks carry grave consequences for nuclear safety and security and pose a serious threat to the credibility of the IAEA safeguards system and the global non-proliferation architecture.
The statement emphasized that nuclear facilities must under no circumstances be the target of attack or threat of attack, and that silence in the face of such actions weakens international norms and increases the risk of their normalization.
The co-sponsors called on all UN member states to unite in explicit
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