Merve Aydogan
20 May 2026•Update: 20 May 2026
Russia's UN envoy Vassily Nebenzia on Tuesday blamed the US and Israel for escalating nuclear safety threats in the Middle East, while Washington accused Iran of allegedly targeting a civilian nuclear facility in the United Arab Emirates.
Addressing the UN Security Council's emergency meeting on the reported drone attack near the Barakah nuclear power plant in the UAE, Nebenzia said: "Russia's position on nuclear safety and security is principled and consistent in nature. Attacks targeting new peaceful nuclear facilities in any country of the world, all the more so those that are under IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) safeguards, are categorically unacceptable."
Nebenzia said Moscow remained committed to "the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all states in the region, barring none, including the UAE."
He argued that attacks on civilian nuclear facilities were not unprecedented, referring to what he described as the US and Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear sites in Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan in June 2025.
"It is absolutely clear that today we would not have had to discuss the threats of nuclear safety and security and radiological security, which are emerging in the Middle East, had it not been for the US and Israel's military misadventure targeting Iran," he said.
"It is indeed Washington and West Jerusalem who bear responsibility for the current regional escalation," Nebenzia added.
Warning about rising tensions, Nebenzia said threats concerning "the complete destruction of the Iranian energy system" were increasing concerns amid "hawkish rhetorics" in recent days.
"We call upon the parties to abandon the language of threats and the raising of stakes, and to immediately revert to the path of political diplomatic settlement in order to arrive at a lasting and long-term resolution," he said.
Meanwhile, US envoy Mike Waltz condemned Iran in "the strongest possible terms" for the drone attack that originated from Iraq, and warned that it could have triggered a catastrophic nuclear disaster.
"This very well could have been an attack where we are discussing the meltdown of a nuclear reactor and the untold and unprecedented humanitarian and environmental crisis that would have caused," Waltz said.
Waltz questioned whether Iran was seeking "to weaponize a nuclear power plant" after failing to obtain a nuclear weapon.
"The greatest irony here is that as the Iranians recklessly sought to produce nuclear weapons, the US took action to stop it, and now out of sheer desperation and true recklessness, they're now weaponizing the peaceful nuclear power of a neighbor," he said.
On Sunday, UAE officials said a fire erupted near the Barakah power plant due to a drone strike that came from Iraqi territory.
The developments come as regional tensions have escalated since the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran in February. Tehran retaliated with strikes targeting Israel as well as US allies in the Gulf, including the UAE, along with the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
A ceasefire took effect on April 8 through Pakistani mediation, but talks in Islamabad failed to produce a lasting agreement. US President Donald Trump later extended the truce indefinitely.
