On 25 November, the UK's Ambassador to the IAEA, Corinne Kitsell,
delivered a statement on behalf of the E3, addressing Iran’s
implementation of its safeguards agreement under the Nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Chair,
France, Germany, and the United Kingdom would like to thank
Director General Grossi for his report on the implementation of
safeguards in Iran, contained in GOV/2021/52, and Deputy Director
General Aparo for the Technical Briefing on 18 November.
First, we would like to underscore our grave concern by the
information in the Director General’s report that IAEA inspectors
operating in Iran have, for several months, been subjected to
intimidation through excessively invasive physical searches. This
is unacceptable and unprecedented. We express our full support
for IAEA inspectors who carry out their roles with impartiality,
professionalism, and dedication and must be able to undertake
their duties without fear of intimidation. As the Director
General noted, Iran’s new security procedures are inconsistent
with both internationally accepted security practices and the
Agreement on the Privileges and Immunities of the IAEA, and
prevent IAEA inspectors from being able to effectively discharge
their functions under the NPT Safeguards Agreement. Like all NPT
state parties, Iran is legally obliged to take the necessary
steps to ensure that Agency inspectors can effectively discharge
their functions. We call on Iran to take immediate steps to
prevent any further incidents from occurring, and encourage the
Director General to promptly report any new incidents to this
Board. We fully associate ourselves with the statement by Canada,
to be delivered later, on behalf of a group of states.
Chair,
We would like to commend the efforts of the Director General and
the Secretariat in verifying Iran’s compliance with its
safeguards obligations and commitments. We firmly support their
professional and impartial efforts to fully clarify information
concerning the correctness and completeness of Iran’s
declarations under its NPT Safeguards Agreement. We reiterate the
importance of the IAEA continuing to evaluate all
safeguards-relevant information available to it in line with
standard practice.
We fully support the Director General’s tireless efforts to
engage in substantial discussions with Iran in order to resolve
issues related to four undeclared locations in Iran. It has now
been over two years since these efforts commenced, and seventeen
months since the Board adopted a resolution calling on Iran to
fully co-operate with the Agency and satisfy its requests without
any further delay. Yet Iran has still failed to provide the
necessary explanation for the presence of anthropogenic nuclear
material particles related to three locations, as well as the
current location of natural uranium in the form of a metal disc.
In the absence of a credible explanation from Iran, we share the
deep concerns of the Director General that undeclared nuclear
material and/or equipment has been present at undeclared
locations in Iran and its current location is not known to the
Agency. As we have repeatedly stated, this is not just a question
of Iran’s past activities but a live issue concerning the
completeness and correctness of Iran’s safeguards declarations
today.
The Director General’s report also noted Iran’s sustained lack of
substantive engagement with the Agency since September, with no
interactions at all on two of the outstanding cases and no
meaningful progress in resolving the remaining issues. We recall
that in Iran’s Joint Statement with the Agency of 12 September,
Iran committed to enabling the Director General to hold
high-level consultations in Tehran on enhancing co-operation. Yet
Iran delayed for over two months in scheduling this visit until
the very eve of the Board, which has undermined the Director
General’s ability to provide full and timely reporting to the
Board.
Chair,
The Director General updated the Board on 24 November that,
despite his efforts, he had been unable to reach an agreement
with Iran to address the issues raised in this report– which Iran
has now had over two years to resolve – and also the issue
relevant to the JCPOA covered during his visit. The Director
General asked for the Board’s continued support in his efforts to
engage with Iran. Iran now needs to fully co-operate and actively
engage with the Agency without further delay. Should rapid and
tangible progress not be forthcoming, a meeting of a special
board to take action will very soon become inevitable.
Finally, we echo the Director General’s call on Iran to fulfill
all its legal obligations under the Subsidiary Arrangements to
its NPT Safeguards Agreement, including fully implementing
Modified Code 3.1. We reiterate that implementation of Modified
Code 3.1 cannot be modified or suspended unilaterally. In
refusing to fully co-operate with the IAEA, Iran undermines the
integrity of the global safeguards system.
We encourage the Director General to continue reporting to the
Board of Governors, as appropriate, and would welcome making
report GOV/2021/52 public.
Thank you.
