United Nations Security Council Resolution 487

UN Security Council
Resolution 487

Operation Opera
Date 19 June 1981
Meeting no. 2,288
Code S/RES/487 (Document)
Subject Iraq-Israel
Voting summary
 15 voted for
None voted against
None abstained
Result Adopted
Security Council composition
Permanent members
Non-permanent members

United Nations Security Council resolution 487, adopted unanimously on 19 June 1981, having noted representations from Iraq and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the Council condemned an attack by Israel on an IAEA-approved nuclear site in Iraq.

The resolution went on to call for a cessation of hostile activities, entitled Iraq to claim for compensation, and urged Israel to place its nuclear facilities under IAEA safeguards.

Background

Main article: Operation Opera

In the late 1970s, Iraq purchased an "Osiris class" nuclear reactor from France. Israeli military intelligence assumed this was for the purpose of plutonium production to further an Iraqi nuclear weapons program, in spite of it being built within the terms of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and under the inspection regime of the IAEA.

Israeli intelligence also believed that the summer of 1981 would be the last chance to destroy the reactor without exposing the Iraqi civilian population to nuclear fallout. After that point, the reactor would be loaded with nuclear fuel.

On 7 June 1981, a squadron of Israeli F-16A fighter aircraft, with an escort of F-15As, bombed and heavily damaged the Osirak reactor as part of Operation Opera.

This resolution was passed following 10 Security Council meetings about the incident and Israel's nuclear weapons policy,[1] and specifically called for Israel to put its own facilities under the safeguards of the IAEA.

Review

In May 2009, the Iraqi parliament's Committee on Foreign Relations started taking steps to force Israel to pay reparation for the damage caused by the 1981 attack. This action was based on Resolution 487.[2]

See also

References

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