Pressing challenges, from the climate emergency to pandemic preparedness, demand concerted efforts at the global scale. But the growth in the use of international sanctions since the Second World War, although mostly targeted at economic growth and military capacity, has also affected science and scientific cooperation (see 'Science, restricted' and Supplementary information for raw data). Many nations have suspended publicly funded collaborations with the scientific institutions of several countries, including Iran, North Korea and Russia.
Abbas Araghchi, Iran's foreign minister, tried to quell the backlash by saying the inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) would not be visiting any of the bombed sites and that discussions about these were still to be had. He said the return had been endorsed by Iran's supreme national security council and that the inspectors would be allowed to visit the Bushehr nuclear site to oversee refuelling only a role required by the international nuclear non-proliferation treaty.
