Iran will chair this year’s annual session of the United Nations Conference on Disarmament, taking the helm of the U.N. body despite broad international concerns that Tehran is pursuing nuclear weapons and shredding the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

The U.N.’s annual Conference on Disarmament, which Iran is slated to lead from May 27 to June 23, is the organization’s primary multilateral forum for negotiating arms control agreements.

The forum has given way to major international treaties on nuclear non-proliferation, prohibitions on chemical weapons, and bans on nuclear tests.

Iranian state media bragged about the announcement, framing it as a diplomatic win for Iran and a loss for the United States. The announcement comes the same week that Iranian negotiators are to meet in Vienna for technical talks with officials from the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog. Western diplomats have expressed skepticism regarding prospects for progress in the negotiations.

[Photo: Israel Defense Forces / Wiki Commons]