Joint Statement by the spokespeople for the Foreign
Ministries of France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United
States.
We, the governments of France, Germany, the United Kingdom and
the United States, take note of the report by the International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that Iran has implemented a
substantial change in the configuration of some of its
centrifuges without informing the Agency in advance. These
centrifuges produce high-enriched uranium up to 60% and are
located at the Fordow Enrichment Plant.
As stated by the Agency, this unnotified change is inconsistent
with Iran’s obligations under its NPT-required Comprehensive
Safeguards Agreement. Such lack of required notification
undermines the Agency’s ability to maintain timely detection at
Iran’s nuclear facilities. The newly reported change in
configuration of centrifuge cascades used to produce
near-weapons-grade uranium underscores the need for Iran to meet
all its safeguards reporting obligations, and to accept whatever
safeguards monitoring the IAEA sees as necessary in light of
Iran’s production of such highly enriched uranium.
Iranian claims that this action was carried out in error are
inadequate. We judge Iran’s actions based on the impartial and
objective reports of the IAEA, not Iran’s purported intent.
We recall that the production of high-enriched uranium by Iran at
the Fordow Enrichment Plant carries significant
proliferation-related risks and is without any credible civilian
justification.
Iran’s actions are all the more concerning since it has stopped
the implementation of its commitments on transparency and
verification under the JCPOA, including implementation of its
Additional Protocol, for close to two years. Iran has also
offered no credible answer yet to the IAEA’s outstanding
questions as part of the IAEA’s safeguards investigation, despite
the adoption of two resolutions on this issue by the Board of
Governors last year.
We call on Iran to comply with all its legally-binding
international obligations under its Comprehensive Safeguards
Agreement with the IAEA and to fully cooperate with the Agency in
the application of effective safeguards at Fordow.
