Iran has opposed the United States’ vice-presidency at the ongoing 11th Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. Iran stated that it was indefensible for the United States—as the only state that has ever used nuclear weapons and continues to expand its nuclear arsenal—to seek to position itself as an arbiter of compliance.

According to the Iranian government, the U.S. has persistently obstructed progress toward this objective instead of fulfilling its responsibilities.

Moreover, the U.S. continued support for Israel’s military operations further exposes the profound inconsistency and selectivity of its position.

“This support directly undermines the integrity of the Treaty and the credibility of this conference,” an Iranian representative stated on Monday at the review conference on non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.

Equally alarming is the recent record of unlawful and unprovoked acts of aggression by the U.S., in coordination with Israel, against Iran and its nuclear facilities, which are under the safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency, according to the Iranian official.

Citing these as “a grave violation of international law” and “a direct assault on the integrity of the global non-proliferation regime”, Iran disassociated itself from the election of the United States as vice-president. 

“We are deeply shocked that this body has chosen to allow Iran to assume any position of leadership,” said the representative of the United States. The U.S. representative called the review conference “an affront to the NPT itself that a country that has so blatantly disregarded its obligations under the Treaty should take a place of honour and responsibility as a Vice-President on the General Committee”.

The U.S. government noted at the conference on Monday that Iran “has continued to lie and obfuscate about its past activities” and for years has “advanced its nuclear programme in a manner inconsistent with any civilian purpose, eventually accumulating over 400 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60 per cent—the only State enriching and stockpiling at this level that does not possess nuclear weapons”. 

Calling Iran’s election “beyond shameful and an embarrassment to the credibility of this conference”, the official called for the body to take its work “more seriously in the days to come than it has today”.  

The United States had not called a vote, but this “should not be construed as precedent in this body, in other treaty bodies, in international organisations or other international fora”.  

He affirmed that his delegation “does not agree that Iran is a leader on issues of non-proliferation”.

“You may see commentary about how Iran was just  elected as vice-president of the NPT review conference. That is true. But it’s worth some explanation: the RevCon has 34 vice-presidents, each of which were selected by various groups of countries,” Mark Goldberg, Global Dispatches founder, told select journalists on Monday. “For example, the U.S., UK and Austria are among the countries selected by Western countries as ‘vice-presidents’. Iran was among about a dozen countries from the Non-Aligned Movement selected as vice-president of the RevCon.”

He added, “The gaveling-in of these vice-presidents was briefly interrupted when a few countries, including the U.S. and UAE, took the floor to object and ‘disassociate’ themselves from the decision to select Iran as one of the VPs. For its part, Iran took to the floor to ‘disassociate’ itself from the decision to select the United States. This all happened before the succession of major speeches began.”