IPB Statements

13 June | Statement by the International Peace Bureau (IPB)

The International Peace Bureau strongly condemns today’s large-scale Israeli military assault on Iranian territory. This operation, which reportedly struck nuclear enrichment sites—including Natanz—ballistic missile facilities, and military leadership compounds, marks a dangerous escalation in an already volatile region.

Civilian infrastructure has also been impacted, with casualties reported in residential areas. Iran has responded by launching a wave of drone strikes and has withdrawn from planned diplomatic talks on its nuclear programme. These events mark a critical deterioration of regional stability and significantly heighten the risk of a broader war.

This attack comes at a time when Iran is not currently assessed by international watchdogs, including the IAEA, to be pursuing nuclear weapons, though recent IAEA findings highlight a growth in Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile However, actions like these dangerously empower voices that argue nuclear deterrence is necessary for national survival. In that way, the strike may perversely encourage proliferation rather than prevent it.

Israel, widely believed to possess approximately 90 nuclear warheads, remains the only nuclear-armed state in the region. Its continued refusal to acknowledge its arsenal or engage in nuclear disarmament efforts stands in stark contrast to global non-proliferation goals.

IPB warns that targeting nuclear facilities—regardless of intent—carries catastrophic risks, both from direct damage and from the precedent it sets. Attacks on nuclear infrastructure undermine international norms and endanger the very safeguards designed to prevent nuclear catastrophe.
This moment must not become a tipping point.

IPB calls for:

• An immediate halt to all offensive military operations.
• The resumption of diplomatic talks addressing Iran’s nuclear activities.
• Renewed international commitment to a Middle East free of weapons of mass destruction.
• The urgent need for all states—including Israel and Iran—to join and implement the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).

We urge the international community to reject further militarization, uphold international law, and invest in a diplomatic path that promotes disarmament, human security, and enduring peace.

(Brief statement by Dr. Enkhsaikhan of Blue Banner  at Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TNPW) side event, New York, March 6, 2025)

Role of non-nuclear-weapon states (NNWSs) is increasing as a result of the studies undertaken on the effects of nuclear weapons which had lead to the conclusion of the TPNW. The commitments by the NNWSs undertaken by the NPT, NWFZ treaties and the TPNW in principle coincide, enrich and support each other. 

Blue Banner, Mongolian NGO, which Dr. Enkhsaikhan‘ represent at this side event, had undertaken a study on the strengths and weaknesses of the NWFZ regime and had concluded that there are at least two dozen non-committed NNWSs (i.e. land-locked, neutral states, NNWSs that are not parties to nuclear military alliances or parties to the current NWFZs that due to current definition and concept of NWFZs cannot be part of the NWFZ regime since they would not be established “based on the arrangements arrived at among the states of the region concerned”. The reasons given by the P5 for their reluctance to accept single-State zones was that doing so might detract from establishing group-state zones, set unfavorable for them precedents and that as a principle the P5 do not provide security assurances to individual states.  These are not valid reasons to exclude these non-committed NNWSs from the NWFZ regime and allow for blind spots and grey areas and knowingly establish the Achilles’ heels in the NWFZ regime.  Fifty years have passed since the first NWFZ was established. In the meantime space, time and technology have become critical geopolitical factor affecting international security and stability. In the meantime nuclear arms race has intensified while the number of nuclear weapon states has increased to nine.

Check the full statement here: