ICAN condemns US strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities
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The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) condemned the US strikes on Iran's safeguarded nuclear sites as illegal, reckless, and a grave threat to global non-proliferation efforts.
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This satellite image provided by Maxar Technologies shows the Natanz nuclear facility in Iran on Jan. 24, 2025. (Maxar Technologies via AP)
The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) issued a strong condemnation Sunday of the United States' military strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, calling the action unlawful and a serious threat to human and environmental safety.
The Nobel Peace Prize-winning organization warned that the escalation endangers global non-proliferation efforts and violates international law prohibiting attacks on safeguarded nuclear sites.
"The US should have continued to pursue the diplomatic process under way before Israel resorted to the illegal use of force. This does not make the region or the world safer. It makes it more dangerous," said ICAN Executive Director Melissa Parke in a public statement.
Parke noted that strikes on nuclear installations are expressly banned under international law due to the catastrophic risks of radioactive fallout. "Striking nuclear installations is explicitly banned under international law and risks causing radioactive contamination harmful to human health and the environment. The US must stop all military action and return to the diplomatic path," she said.
The strikes, ordered by US President Donald Trump, targeted Iran's Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan nuclear facilities, all of which are under full IAEA safeguards. Trump framed the assault as a "very successful attack" and warned Tehran of "far more serious consequences" unless it "ends this war."
However, both the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the US intelligence community maintain that Iran is not actively developing a nuclear weapon, a key point ICAN highlighted to question the legitimacy of the attack.
"Given that US intelligence agencies believe that Iran is not pursuing nuclear weapons, the attack was a senseless and reckless act... it could seriously undermine international efforts to prevent nuclear weapons from proliferating any further," Parke added.
Nuclear recklessness
The IAEA has called an emergency meeting of its Board of Governors in Vienna for Monday, following a formal request from Iranian officials who denounced the US strikes as a violation of international safeguards.
Iran's Atomic Energy Organization has demanded an independent investigation, asserting that the targeted facilities posed no nuclear threat and were regularly inspected by the IAEA.
In a sign of the wider fallout, Iranian lawmakers have responded with mounting fury, threatening to withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) under Article 10, which permits exit if a state's supreme interests are imperiled. Esmail Kowsari, a senior member of Parliament's National Security Committee, also warned that Tehran may close the Strait of Hormuz and expand regional retaliation.
For ICAN, the US escalation marks a dangerous turning point. "If the international community permits such violations to go unchecked," the organization warned in a follow-up briefing, "it risks not only the unraveling of non-proliferation norms but also widespread harm to global health and security."
Read more: ICAN condemns Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities
