UN official says JCPOA goals remain unmet as Resolution 2231 nears October termination

Rosemary DiCarlo, a UN Secretariat official, told the United Nations Security Council that with fewer than four months left until the termination of Security Council resolution 2231, the objectives of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action have not been fully realized.

DiCarlo said the JCPOA, adopted in 2015 to ensure that the Islamic Republic of Iran’s nuclear program would be exclusively peaceful, included sanctions relief, limits on nuclear activities and monitoring and verification. But she told the council that the deal and resolution 2231 have faced significant setbacks, including the United States’ withdrawal from the agreement in 2018 and Iran’s partial suspension of its commitments under the plan.

“The military escalation between Israel and Iran since 13 June and United States air strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities on 21 June complicated prospects for achieving full implementation of resolution 2231,” DiCarlo said. She welcomed an announced ceasefire agreed in coordination by the United States and Qatar and said the United Nations urged all parties to respect it.

DiCarlo cited the International Atomic Energy Agency’s 31 May 2025 quarterly report, saying the IAEA had expressed “serious concern” about “the significantly increased production and accumulation of highly enriched uranium by the Islamic Republic of Iran.” She said the agency had lost continuity of knowledge on many aspects of Iran’s nuclear program because it had not been able to perform verification and monitoring activities in the country for more than four years and that the IAEA had not been able to verify Iran’s total enriched-uranium stockpile since February 2021.

She conveyed casualty figures reported by national authorities: according to the Iranian Ministry of Health, at least 606 people have been killed in the recent fighting, with 107 killed in the past 24 hours and 5,332 injured; Israeli authorities reported 28 killed and 1,472 injured.

DiCarlo summarized diplomatic exchanges during the reporting period, saying that on 17 March the permanent representatives of China, Iran and Russia issued a joint statement from a 14 March meeting in Beijing stressing the importance of resolution 2231 and its time frames. She said China also submitted a proposal that highlighted the JCPOA as the basis for renewed dialogue, and that in September the permanent representatives of France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Iran and Russia sent letters outlining different views on the impasse while reiterating the need for negotiations.

On the status of restrictive measures, DiCarlo said the only measures remaining in effect under annex B to resolution 2231 pertain to nuclear activities and transfers, and that those measures will remain in place until 18 October 2025 unless the Security Council decides otherwise. She said the Secretariat received no allegations of violations of those provisions during the reporting period and that no new procurement-channel proposals had been submitted in the past six months. The Secretariat did receive eight notifications regarding nuclear-related restrictive measures.

DiCarlo told the council that diplomacy, dialogue and verification remain the preferred path to ensuring Iran’s nuclear program is exclusively peaceful and to bringing economic benefits to the Iranian people. She said the Secretariat will continue to support implementation of resolution 2231 until the termination date on 18 October 2025, and she thanked Samuel Žbogar of Slovenia for his leadership as Security Council facilitator for implementation of the resolution and the joint commission’s procurement working group coordinator for continued cooperation.