Thank you very much Mr President,
Actually, I wanted to begin by paying tribute to you, Samantha,
in your final appearance in the Security Council. Throughout all
of my time here, you have been that hard pedalling dynamo that
you have just described. You have been a tireless advocate, a
passionate campaigner, a trusted ally, and a true friend. Thank
you very much.
And you have shown an unrelenting personal commitment to tackle
the most troubling issues… Syria, Ebola, the Central African
Republic, human rights, and on all those issues and so many more
you have grounded our diplomacy in humanity, bringing the voices
of real people affected by those conflicts into this Chamber.
Thank you very much.
In turning to Iran, let me join others in welcoming this second
report on the implementation of resolution 2231 and I thank our
briefers for their remarks just now. And I’d also like to welcome
you, Sebastiano, to your new role as facilitator.
You take on the role at an important time - we have a significant
year ahead of us on the Iran nuclear dossier. But twelve months
on from Implementation Day, I think it’s right, first, to look
back at how far we have come.
We have seen Iran remove 13 thousand centrifuges, as well as
associated infrastructure, and eliminate its stock of 20 per cent
enriched uranium. We’ve seen the possibility of Iran acquiring
nuclear weapons disappear for over a decade.
We have seen Iran work with us and our E3+3 partners in the Joint
Commission and the working groups established under the deal –
and we are pleased that the procurement channel, established for
the export of nuclear-related goods and services to Iran, is
fully functional. Applications are being approved,
confidentiality is being respected, and we hope to receive
applications from many more countries over the coming year.
And in turn, we’ve also seen economic prospects improve in Iran,
with UK exports, for instance, to Iran growing by 42% in just 9
months last year. We remain committed to ensuring that trade
continues to grow to the tangible economic benefit of the Iranian
people under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. The second
phase of sanctions lifting, which will commence a maximum of
eight years after Implementation Day provides a further incentive
for Iran to comply with the deal, but we remain committed to
ensure those sanctions which remain in place continue to be
enforced robustly.
Away from the nuclear file, Iran continues to play a
destabilising role in the region. This is most clearly seen in
Syria. Iran has failed to uphold its obligations under
international humanitarian law in Syria. For instance, failing to
allow the delivery of humanitarian aid into eastern Aleppo as it
was besieged.
So we need to recognise the fundamental tension in Iran’s
engagement with the world. On the one hand, through the Iran
deal, they were part of an indisputable diplomatic success; one
that degraded a significant threat to the region. And yet on the
other, we need only look to the victims of Aleppo to see how
Iran’s engagement in the region remains so often misguided.
Iran continues to provide substantial military and financial
support to Hezbollah and the Syrian regime. As the
Secretary-General’s report makes clear, the leader of Hezbollah
stated that Iran supplies all their weapons and missiles. Senior
Iranian individuals, listed under resolution 2231, continue to
flout the travel ban imposed by this Council, with Major-General
Soleimani pictured in Aleppo in September in a show of support
for the Syrian regime.
These actions show that Iran chooses to complicate, not
extinguish, a conflict that has persisted for far too long. And
that is simply not the way to build our confidence.
Iran must take clear steps to improve its engagement it the
region this year. We welcome the latest IAEA report which
confirmed that Iran continued to comply broadly with its nuclear
commitments. And we expect Iran to continue to do so this year.
But in order to benefit fully from the lifting of UN, EU and US
sanctions, Iran must build that confidence among the
international community and show that it has changed its
disruptive behaviour in the region.
So it’s vital that Member States continue to enforce the
sanctions regime by acting on and reporting all suspected
violations. We echo the Secretary-General’s call for all Member
States to take the necessary measures to prevent entry or transit
of Iranians subject to travel bans. We also urge Member States to
consider whether exporting arms to Iran is in the best interests
of the region.
In addition, we remain concerned by Iran’s ballistic missile
programme and we urge all Member States to continue to enforce
the sanctions regime on ballistic missile technology, and to act
on and report all suspected violations.
Mr President,
As one of the architects of the JCPOA, the United Kingdom remains
committed to ensuring that the Iran deal is a success.
