New York: Europe and the Arabs

"The global nuclear non-proliferation regime is under immense pressure, and we need to protect it," affirmed IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi, who also stressed that "we do not want a world with dozens of nuclear-armed states," according to the UN Daily News Bulletin.

Grossi noted that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's (North Korea) nuclear weapons program continues to violate numerous UN Security Council resolutions, and that even within some countries with a strong track record of compliance with the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, "open discussions are now taking place about whether or not nuclear weapons should be possessed."

Presenting the IAEA's 2024 report to the UN General Assembly, Grossi stated: "When the IAEA confirms the peaceful use of nuclear material by a state, confidence in nuclear activities is strengthened. History shows that when confidence erodes, international peace and security are jeopardized." He reported that the agency conducted more than 3,000 on-site verification activities at over 1,300 facilities worldwide last year.

Iran and Ukraine

The Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) noted that the agreement signed with Iran, brokered by Egypt, provides a clear understanding of inspection, notification, and implementation procedures, following the agency's forced withdrawal of inspectors last June after attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities.

"Now is the time to implement the agreement," Grossi said. "I am confident that the return of the agency's inspectors and the resumption of safeguards implementation in Iran will signal that agreements and understandings are possible."

Regarding Ukraine, he warned that the war there—the first to threaten a major nuclear energy program—continues to jeopardize nuclear safety and security. He added that frequent power outages caused by the fighting and military activities near nuclear power plants increase the risk of a nuclear accident at Europe's largest nuclear power plant. “Atoms for Food”

Grossi discussed the various uses of nuclear energy and the Agency’s role in this regard, citing, for example, the “Atoms for Food” initiative in partnership with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), which “offers tailored solutions to enhance food security, support food safety and nutrition, and reduce the environmental stress of agriculture.”

He also highlighted the Agency’s role in bringing together leading experts in artificial intelligence with their counterparts in the nuclear energy sector to discuss how nuclear energy can fuel AI and how AI can improve the nuclear energy sector.