Iran

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has identified a number of questions related to possible undeclared nuclear material and nuclear-related activities at three locations that Iran has not declared, Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi said this morning during a briefing to IAEA Member States.

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres:

The United Nations and its partners launched a $34 million Flash Appeal to help 260,000 people facing food insecurity in Lesotho due to a severe drought.  The Government declared a national disaster on 30 October.  Between January and March, an estimated 71,000 people will be one step away from famine.

Iran’s delegate described United States sanctions against his country as “tantamount to economic terrorism”, while a senior United Nations official called for preventing a serious confrontation in the region, as the Security Council considered the milestone 2015 agreement governing Tehran’s nuclear activities.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported today that an estimated 761,000 children were internally displaced by storms in the Caribbean between 2014 and 2018; that’s the hottest five-year period on record.  This is an increase of 600,000, compared to the 175,000 children displaced in the preceding five years.

The humanitarian situation in north-west and south-west Cameroon continues to deteriorate and 1.3 million people are now in need of assistance.  The humanitarian response for the country is one the most critically underfunded in the world.  Only 20 per cent of the $300 million requested has been received.

Meeting today amid spiking tensions in the Persian Gulf, the Security Council considered the status of a 2015 deal governing Iran’s nuclear activities, with Tehran voicing frustration that its long‑standing compliance and “strategic patience” has failed to dissuade the United States from imposing new sanctions.

The International Organization for Migration says intercommunal violence and floods in the Mopti region of Mali are aggravating a fragile humanitarian situation for 50,000 internally displaced people while 210,000 others are food insecure and only 2 per cent of communities can access safe drinking water.

Responding to record flood levels in Iran, the United Nations Resident Coordinator in the country, Ugochi Daniels, today asked the donor community for $25 million to cover the emergency and early recovery needs of 115,000 highly vulnerable people in the most hard-hit Provinces of Golestan, Khuzestan, Ilam and Lorestan.

The new Permanent Representative of Iran to the United Nations, Majid Takht Ravanchi, presented his credentials to UN Secretary-General António Guterres today.