Iran says nuclear program will recover after US-Israel strikes

“Cluster munitions are inherently indiscriminate weapons that must never be used,” said Erika Guevara Rosas, Amnesty’s Senior Director for Research, Advocacy, Policy and Campaigns.

“By using such weapons in or near populated residential areas, Iranian forces endangered civilian lives and demonstrated clear disregard for international humanitarian law.”

According to Amnesty, Iranian ballistic missiles dispersed dozens of submunitions over the densely populated Gush Dan metropolitan area on 19 June, with additional strikes verified in Beersheba on 20 June and Rishon LeZion on 22 June. One of the submunitions struck the basketball court of a school in Beersheba. No injuries were reported, but remnants found at the scene matched cluster bomblets documented in the earlier Tel Aviv-area attack.

“Civilians, particularly children, are most at risk of injury or death from unexploded submunitions,” Guevara Rosas added.

Amnesty emphasized that the high dud rate of many submunitions leaves behind long-term threats. Some ordnance may remain explosive for years, posing risks to residents returning to affected areas.

Indiscriminate weapons and legal implications

Cluster munitions, which scatter small explosive devices over a wide area, are widely banned under the Convention on Cluster Munitions. Neither Iran nor Israel is party to the treaty. Amnesty urged both governments to accede to the convention.

International humanitarian law forbids indiscriminate attacks, particularly those involving weapons that cannot be precisely directed at a specific military target. Launching such attacks into areas where civilians are present constitutes a war crime.

Amnesty said the ballistic missiles used by Iranian forces attacks were inaccurate by design. Previous assessments of similar strikes, including those launched in October 2024, found targeting errors averaging more than 500 meters.

The organization also cited past incidents suggesting Iran’s possession and testing of cluster submunitions. A similar munition landed in Gorgan, northern Iran, in September 2023 after what the Iranian Defense Ministry described as a failed weapons test. Though the ministry denied testing cluster ordnance, photographs published by state-aligned media closely resemble the bomblets found in Israel last month.

No Iranian response

Amnesty said it submitted formal inquiries to Iranian authorities on July 15 regarding the use of cluster munitions. No response had been received at the time of publication.

The 12 Day War between Iran and Israel in June resulted in the deaths of at least 1,062 people in Iran, including 786 military personnel and 276 civilians, according to the Iranian government spokesman.

"We have presented 1,062 martyrs in this war, including 102 women and 38 children," Fatemeh Mohajerani said in her weekly press briefing. She added that five paramedics, five nurses, and seven emergency responders were also among the casualties.

In Israel, at least 29 people, including women and children were killed as reported by the Israeli Health Ministry.

The move comes a month after US and Israeli attacks targeted Iranian nuclear sites and before European and Iranian envoys are due to meet in Istanbul for nuclear talks on Friday.

“A window now exists to completely change the trajectory of the Middle East for the better, but that window will close unless we convince Iran that its nuclear weapons program will never be tolerated, period,” Senator Pete Ricketts said in a floor speech on Wednesday.

“That’s why this resolution urges the E3 (UK, Germany and France) to snapback sanctions as soon as possible. We must not let Iran off the hook,” Senator Ricketts, a Nebraska Republican, said.

Any party to a now lapsed 2015 nuclear agreement is entitled to file a complaint accusing Iran of non-compliance, renewing sanctions the deal had suspended.

Despite heavy blows suffered during the conflict, Iran has refused to relinquish enrichment and insists its nuclear program is a peaceful national achievement.

“In order to seize this moment, the US and our allies must impose maximum pressure to the highest extent possible to force Iran to agree to permanently and verifiably end its nuclear program, including its capacity to enrich,” Ricketts added.

Speaking to Iran International, co-sponsor of the resolution Senator Jim Risch said the lawmakers wanted the European countries to trigger snapback "immediately".

"It is obvious that the intent of the Iranian regime is to build a nuclear weapon. We cannot have that, that’s got to stop," the Idaho Republican said.

"The president has re-enacted the maximum pressure campaign that we have had on Iran. It worked in the past, it can work again and that is what we are going to pursue."

"In the absence of a deal, the United States continues to impose maximum diplomatic and economic pressure to constrain any activities, like the pursuit of a nuclear weapon that would threaten the security of US citizens, personnel, and partners in the region," acting US Ambassador to the United Nations Dorothy Shea told the UN Security Council on Wednesday.

Shea said Tehran must choose between continuing to block international oversight while supporting it's regional allied groups, or engaging in “meaningful, time-bound diplomacy” that could pave the way for peace and reintegration into the global economy.

“Iran can continue its current path of defying the NPT(Non-Proliferation Treaty)-mandated safeguards obligations in a bid to reconstitute its nuclear program in secrecy,” she said.

Iran passed the law suspending cooperation with the IAEA following last month's US and Israeli strikes on its nuclear facilities.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said this week that Tehran has not ended cooperation with the agency. Instead, he said future coordination with inspectors would now be managed by the country’s Supreme National Security Council.

“Already, Iran's law to suspend cooperation with the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) has obscured international visibility into its program.”

Snapback looms

Shea's warning comes amid growing pressure from the US and its European allies, who have set an end-of-August deadline for Iran to reach a nuclear deal or face the reimposition of full UN sanctions under the JCPOA’s snapback mechanism.

The snapback mechanism, created under UN Security Council Resolution 2231—which endorsed the 2015 nuclear deal—allows any party to the agreement to reimpose sanctions if Iran is found non-compliant.

If no resolution is passed within 30 days to continue sanctions relief, all prior UN measures automatically come back into force.

Iran is set to hold nuclear talks with European powers including Germany, France and the United Kingdom on Friday in Istanbul. However, talks with the United States remain stalled after a planned sixth round in Muscat was cancelled on the eve of the Israel's June 13 strikes on Iran.

"The Supreme Leader’s misguided strategies and miscalculations have placed the Islamic Republic in its weakest and most fragile state ever,” Mostafa Tajzadeh said in the statement released on his official Telegram channel.

"In this critical situation, Mr. Khamenei has no option but to apologize to the Iranian people and accept fundamental reforms in line with national demands, including by forming a constituent assembly based on completely free and fair elections," he added, "or to resign and step down."

Mostafa Tajzadeh is a reformist politician who served as deputy interior minister during the presidency of Mohammad Khatami from 1997 to 2005.

He is closely aligned with Iran’s reformist political faction and has been imprisoned for 10 of the last 16 years, currently on charges including acting against the state, spreading falsehoods and propaganda.

Critical of Khamenei’s handling of tensions with the United States and Israel, Tajzadeh outlined a series of steps the Supreme Leader should take.

Tajzadeh said the change ought to resemble the 1905-1911 Constitutional Revolution which transformed the Qajar monarchy into a modern government through the establishment of a parliament.

Israeli airstrikes and drone attacks during a 12-day war last month killed hundreds of Iranians including civilians, military personnel and nuclear scientists. Iran's retaliatory missile strikes killed 27 Israeli civilians.

"It must be admitted with great sadness that the result of unnecessary and costly anti-Americanism, as well as the conflict with the will of the majority of the people, has been nothing but a bankrupt economy (and) a bleak outlook," Tajzadeh added.

Iran is currently facing water shortages and electricity outages across the country as decades of sanctions and mismanagement deepens economic hardship.

"The delegation will come to Iran to discuss the modality, not to go to the (nuclear) sites," deputy foreign minister Kazem Gharibabadi told journalists in New York.

His remarks come after the IAEA said earlier this month that its team of inspectors had safely left Iran and returned to its headquarters in Vienna, following a new Iranian law that barred cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog.

Gharibabad also addressed damage to Iran's nuclear sites following the June 22 US strikes on Isfahan, Natanz, and Fordow.

“Our Atomic Energy Organization is currently assessing the damage to the nuclear installations, and we are waiting to receive their report. It is very dangerous work — we do not know what has happened there because of the radiation risks,” he said.

Asked whether Iran remains compliant with the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), Gharibabadi said Iran is committed to the treaty and, as such, should be allowed to exercise its rights, including uranium enrichment.

“We are a member of the NPT. We have obligations and rights… Enrichment is part of the rights of member states… Iran will enrich uranium in accordance with its needs,” he said.

Iran’s uranium enrichment program has long been a source of international tension.

While Tehran insists the program is for peaceful purposes, the IAEA argues that enrichment to high levels of purity lacks any civilian justification.

Renewed diplomacy

Gharibabadi will lead the Iranian delegation for talks with European powers in Istanbul on Friday - in what appears to be a last-ditch effort to salvage a deal and avert a return of United Nations sanctions against Iran.

Washington confirmed on Tuesday that it is coordinating closely with the E3 (Britain, France and Germany) ahead of the Istanbul talks, while remaining "ready to talk directly" to Tehran.

“The Iranian people stand to benefit from negotiating in good faith," state department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce told reporters. “The Iranian leadership has a window of opportunity to choose a path of peace and prosperity for their people.”