Chair,
On behalf of France, Germany and the United Kingdom, I thank
Director General Grossi for his latest report on Iran's nuclear
programme.
The E3 are very grateful to the Agency for the professional,
independent and impartial work of their team of inspectors and
for their objective reporting on Iran's nuclear programme. We
encourage the Director General to keep the Board informed of all
relevant activities and developments.
Once again, the IAEA reports the continued expansion of Iran's
nuclear activities, in increasing violation of its JCPoA
commitments. The Agency recalls once again that it is not able to
ensure Iran's nuclear programme is exclusively peaceful, and
highlights that Iran is the only state without nuclear weapons to
undertake production and accumulation of high enriched
uranium.
Chair,
In the reporting period, Iran has continued to enrich uranium far
beyond its JCPoA commitments :
- It has been blatantly violating all JCPoA limits on both
enrichment and accumulation of enriched uranium. Its stockpile of
high enriched uranium up to 60 % has continued to grow
significantly, without any credible civilian justification;
- Iran now has almost four IAEA significant quantities of high
enriched uranium, which the IAEA defines as the approximate
amount of nuclear material from which the possibility of
manufacturing a nuclear explosive device cannot be excluded;
- Over the last three months, Iran has also substantially
expanded its overall production capacity by installing and
operating new advanced centrifuges;
- For the first time in years, the DG also reported that Iran
undertook some construction work at the Khondab Heavy Water
Research Center, without communicating all the needed information
to the Agency.
We also recall previous IAEA reports of Iran's uranium
metal-related work. The production of Uranium metal is a key step
in the development of a nuclear weapon and we urge Iran not to
undertake this work again.
Chair,
Iran continues obstructing the IAEA, which has detrimental
implications for the Agency's ability to provide assurance of the
exclusively peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear programme :
- For more than three and a half years, Iran has seriously
hindered effective JCPoA verification and monitoring;
- As a result of this lack of transparency, the Agency has lost
continuity of knowledge in relation to the production and
inventory of centrifuges, rotors and bellows, heavy water and
uranium ore concentrate;
- Iran refuses to reverse its decision to withdraw the
designation of several experienced Agency inspectors. We condemn
this decision, which seriously affects the Agency's ability to
conduct its verification in Iran, particularly at the enrichment
facilities;
- The DG also notes that it has been more than three years
since Iran stopped applying its Additional Protocol.
Chair,
We would like to remind this Board of the statements made in Iran
about its technical capability to produce nuclear weapons and the
possibility of changing its so-called nuclear doctrine.
We again call on Iran to urgently:
- Halt and reverse its nuclear escalation and refrain from
making threats to produce nuclear weapons;
- Return to the limits imposed by the JCPoA, in particular
those regarding enrichment;
- Implement the March 2023 Joint statement and the commitments
it made regarding transparency and cooperation with the IAEA
including re-applying all transparency measures that it stopped
in February 2021;
- Allow the Agency to install surveillance and monitoring
equipment where requested;
- Re-implement and swiftly ratify its Additional Protocol; and
- Reverse its September 2023 decision to withdraw the
designations of experienced inspectors.
Chair,
Iran's escalating nuclear activities significantly harm
international security and undermine the global non-proliferation
architecture. We will continue consultations, alongside
international partners, on how best to address collective doubts
of the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear programme. In 2022, Iran
twice refused a negotiated outcome and instead chose to escalate
and expand its nuclear programme to alarming levels. We remain
committed to a diplomatic solution and stand ready to use all
diplomatic levers available to prevent Iran from developing
nuclear weapons.
Finally, we ask the Director General to keep the Board of
Governors informed on the status of Iran's nuclear programme. We
ask for the report to be made public.
Thank you.
