23 October 2026
The IAEA Board of Governors referred Iran's non-compliance to the UN Security Council in September.
A referral of this kind is the formal route by which the agency's governing board hands a safeguards question to the Council.
Tehran disputes the finding.
The Board of Governors is the IAEA organ that takes such decisions between the agency's General Conferences.
Iran has sharply restricted IAEA access since the strikes on its nuclear sites in June 2025.
The agency says normal inspections have not resumed and the verification gap remains.
Referring organ:
IAEA Board of Governors
Body it was referred to:
UN Security Council
Why it matters for exams: Which IAEA organ refers a non-compliance finding, and to which UN body it goes, is a classic two-step institutional question.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Board of Governors IAEA Board of Governors — The IAEA organ that takes decisions between General Conferences and can refer a case onward.
1 October 2026
The UN General Assembly met to debate a veto cast in the Security Council on Iran.
China and Russia vetoed a draft backed by the United States that concerned a sanctions panel of experts on Iran's nuclear facilities.
Under the Assembly's veto initiative, members gather to discuss any draft blocked by a permanent member's veto.
China defended its vote in the debate, while Hedda Samson, Deputy Head of the European Union delegation, argued for extending the panel's mandate.
The meeting was a debate and not a vote, so it produced no resolution.
Assembly President Khalilur Rahman is to send a summary of the discussions to the Security Council.
A panel of experts is the body that monitors and reports on how a sanctions regime is being applied.
States that vetoed:
China and Russia
Assembly President:
Khalilur Rahman
Why it matters for exams: The veto initiative, the five permanent members who can veto, and the office of President of the General Assembly are all standard polity questions, here attached to Iran.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Panel of experts UN sanctions panel of experts — A small group that watches how a Security Council sanctions regime is applied and reports back.
17 September 2026
The Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran released a report on the position of civilians in the country.
A fact-finding mission of this kind is set up by the UN Human Rights Council, which sits in Geneva, and reports its findings back to it.
The mission's members are independent and serve in their own capacity rather than as representatives of any government.
The mission concluded that civilians had suffered serious human rights violations across all provinces of the country.
It urged both Iran and the United States to cease all violations, to provide full compensation to the victims and to give guarantees against repetition.
It also called for independent investigations and accountability for every party involved.
Mission:
Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran
Body that sets up such a mission:
UN Human Rights Council, Geneva
Why it matters for exams: Which UN body sets up a fact-finding mission on a country, where that body sits, and the mission's exact name are the durable institutional facts here.
Kerala PSCUPSC
27 October 2026
Rafael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), briefed the UN Security Council on Iran.
He told the Council the agency is not yet in a position to say that all the nuclear material under its safeguards in Iran remains accounted for.
Iran's declared stock of 440 kg of highly enriched uranium is the agency's particular concern.
Inspectors have not been able to return to the nuclear sites damaged in the strikes of June 2025 and early 2026.
The agency has seen no sign of repair or rebuilding at those sites, and says satellite pictures cannot replace inspectors on the ground.
Iran has not yet given the information and access needed to verify material it had declared earlier, at damaged and undamaged facilities alike.
Grossi said the gap can and must be put right, and that only diplomacy backed by IAEA verification can hold back proliferation in the long run.
Declared highly enriched uranium:
440 kg
Body briefed:
UN Security Council
Why it matters for exams: The IAEA's head, its headquarters, the Security Council briefing route and the 440 kg figure are all standard objective-question material on Iran's nuclear file.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Safeguards IAEA verification of declared nuclear material — Checks that nuclear material a country has declared stays in civilian use.
27 October 2026
Routine inspections across Iran's nuclear facilities have not resumed, but the IAEA says its inspectors are currently working at the Bushehr nuclear power plant.
Iran's atomic energy agency cooperated in delivering the safeguards equipment the agency needs to verify spent fuel at the plant.
That spent fuel is expected to move to dry storage early next year, and the verification has to be done before the move.
The agency is separately seeking access to the Isfahan Fuel Enrichment Plant, a facility Iran declared shortly before the strikes of June 2025.
Grossi told the Security Council that past work with Iran shows constructive engagement is possible.
Bushehr is Iran's operating nuclear power station, and it is the one facility where inspectors currently have access.
The agency repeated that satellite monitoring cannot substitute for inspectors on the site.
Plant where inspectors are working:
Bushehr nuclear power plant
Access being sought:
Isfahan Fuel Enrichment Plant
Why it matters for exams: Bushehr as Iran's nuclear power plant, the Isfahan Fuel Enrichment Plant and the idea of spent fuel moving to dry storage are the kind of named facts that objective papers use.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Spent fuel Used nuclear reactor fuel — Fuel taken out of a reactor after use; it is stored under watch before any further step.
21 October 2026
The Islamic Republic of Iran is one of eight countries behind a single joint nomination for traditional felt making. Its partners in the file are Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Turkiye and Uzbekistan. Felt is a dense material pressed from wool without weaving, and it is used for carpets, prayer mats, yurt coverings and clothing. The nomination is one of 64 that UNESCO has received, put forward by 82 countries in all. They go before the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. That committee holds its twenty-first session at Xiamen in China, from 30 November to 5 December, with an opening event the day before. A joint file of this kind lets several states share one living practice rather than each claiming it alone.
Countries in the felt making file:
8, including Iran
Nominations before the committee:
64, from 82 countries
Session venue:
Xiamen, China
Why it matters for exams: The name of the intangible heritage committee, the Xiamen session and the eight-country felt making file are the kind of named facts objective papers draw on.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Intangible cultural heritage Living practices, knowledge and skills — Practices a community keeps alive, such as a craft, a music form or a festival, as against a building or a site.
Background
The IAEA told the UN Security Council that it cannot confirm that none of Iran's safeguarded nuclear material has been diverted; this item explains the words in that finding.
Safeguards are the checks the International Atomic Energy Agency applies to nuclear material a country has declared, to see that it stays in civilian use.
Diversion means that declared material has been taken away from that declared, civilian purpose.
The checks rest on the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, the NPT, under which a non-nuclear-weapon state accepts agency verification.
Verification needs inspectors on the site; the agency has said plainly that satellite monitoring cannot replace them.
The IAEA has its headquarters in Vienna and is led by a Director General, Rafael Grossi.
Its Board of Governors takes the agency's decisions between General Conferences, and can send a non-compliance finding to the Security Council.
Treaty behind safeguards:
NPT
IAEA headquarters:
Vienna
Why it matters for exams: Safeguards, diversion, the NPT and the IAEA's organs are the vocabulary every Iran nuclear question is built from.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Diversion Diversion of nuclear material — Declared nuclear material being taken away from its declared civilian purpose.
Background
IAEA inspectors are at work at the Bushehr nuclear power plant, which stands on Iran's southern coast; this item sets out the geography around it.
That southern coast fronts the Persian Gulf, and the Gulf of Oman lies beyond it to the south-east.
The Strait of Hormuz joins the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman and is the narrow exit for much of the region's oil.
In the north Iran has a coast on the Caspian Sea, the largest inland water body in the world.
The Zagros range runs down the country's west and south-west, and the Alborz range curves along the north, with Mount Damavand its highest point.
The Dasht-e Kavir and the Dasht-e Lut are the two great deserts of the interior, and Lake Urmia lies in the north-west.
Iran is a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, and its currency is the rial.
Highest point:
Mount Damavand, in the Alborz
Currency:
Iranian rial
Why it matters for exams: The Strait of Hormuz, the Caspian Sea, the Zagros and Alborz, Damavand, the Dasht-e Kavir, Lake Urmia, OPEC membership and the rial are the stock Iran geography questions.
Kerala PSCUPSC
Background
Iran has joined a joint nomination for traditional felt making, and this item explains the machinery that will decide it. Intangible cultural heritage means living practices, skills and knowledge, as against a monument or a site. Nominations are examined by the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, which works under UNESCO. The committee meets in session, and the twenty-first session is at Xiamen in China from 30 November to 5 December. Several states may put forward one practice together in a single multinational file, as Iran and seven neighbours and partners have done here. That single round carries 64 nominations submitted by 82 countries between them. Iran's partners in its own file are Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Turkiye and Uzbekistan.
Deciding body:
Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage
Session:
Twenty-first, at Xiamen
Why it matters for exams: The difference between intangible heritage and World Heritage, the committee's exact name and the idea of a multinational file are standing facts that come up whenever a listing is in the news.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Multinational nomination A file submitted jointly by several states — One nomination in which several countries present a shared practice together.