Statement of Ambassador Security Council meeting
on the implementation of resolution 2231
Location: New York
Delivered on: 14 December 2021 (Transcript of the speech,
exactly as it was delivered)
I start by thanking USG Rosemary DiCarlo for her briefing. We
welcome the Secretary General’s twelfth report on the
implementation of resolution 2231 and thank the Secretariat for
their continued professionalism and support.
Thanks also to Ambassador Byrne-Nason and His Excellency Olaf
Skoog for their briefings and again to Ambassador Byrne-Nason for
her, and her team’s work, as 2231 Facilitator.
The UK has consistently demonstrated our commitment to resolution
2231 and the JCPOA. Our priority is to see the US return to the
agreement and Iran to return to compliance. We are negotiating in
Vienna towards this goal.
As the Secretary-General notes in his report, the latest talks in
Vienna resumed on 29 November, five months after Iran broke them
off. During these talks Iran has introduced new maximalist
demands, many of which go beyond the JCPOA. The process is not
moving fast enough and time is running out.
At the same time, Iran’s nuclear escalation is undermining
international peace and security and the global non-proliferation
system. Iran has continued to develop a ballistic missile
programme, which is inconsistent with resolution 2231.
It is important that this Council focuses on the gravity of the
current situation. The Iranian nuclear programme has never been
more advanced than it is today.
Iran’s total stockpile contains enough fissile material that, if
enriched further, could produce several nuclear weapons. Iran is
producing Highly Enriched Uranium, which is unprecedented for a
state without a nuclear weapons programme and is producing
uranium metal, which provides weapons-applicable knowledge.
And since February, Iran has curtailed monitoring by the IAEA, in
violation of resolution 2231; and since 2019, failed to cooperate
with the Agency on safeguards investigations. Iran has also
failed to implement its bilateral agreement with the IAEA to
service cameras and allow access to the Karaj site. So we call on
Iran to restore fully all accesses under 2231, to implement its
legal obligations with the Agency without delay.
We have reached a fork in the road. We hope that Iran will choose
to conclude a fair and comprehensive deal that would benefit the
Iranian people and nation. If Iran continues its current path of
nuclear escalation, in weeks, not months, it will be responsible
for collapsing the JCPOA and provoking a serious crisis, which
would require a robust response from this Council.
