Thank you Mr President. I would like to thank Under Secretary General Di Carlo, Ambassador Frazier and Ambassador Lambrinidis for their briefings and continuous efforts to implement UNSCR 2231.
There is no doubt: Iran is not in compliance with its nuclear-related commitments under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPoA).
And this non-compliance, which is well documented by the IAEA, is continuously getting worse.
For the past five years, Iran has been stepping further away from the 2015 JCPoA. As we just heard: the IAEA found that Iran has massively increased the rate of production of uranium enriched up to 60%.
There is no credible civilian justification for the scale of Iran’s enrichment activities. The current amount of uranium enriched up to 60 % would suffice for more than four nuclear explosive devices. As the IAEA states, Iran is the only state without nuclear weapons to enrich at 60 %. Why?
This escalatory path must stop now. Together with our partners, we have spared no effort over the years to bring Iran back into full JCPoA compliance. In 2022, Iran refused to seize a critical diplomatic opportunity to agree a revised JCPoA. Since then, Iran’s actions have hollowed out the JCPoA even more.
It is high time for Iran to reverse the expansion of its nuclear program with concrete and verifiable steps.
Also, a necessity to regain confidence is to again allow the IAEA full access. We are extremely worried that the IAEA has lost the continuity of knowledge on key parts of Iran’s nuclear program as Iran continues to restrict the Agency’s ability to observe. We urge Iran to return to full transparency.
Mr President,
Iran has always emphasized its commitment not to seek, develop or acquire a nuclear weapon. Iran’s ongoing non-compliance and recent statements, including from Iranian government officials cast grave concerns about this declared intention. They are in clear contradiction to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), to which Iran is a party. Iran thereby jeopardizes the international non-proliferation system. We urge Iran to abide by its commitments as a non-nuclear weapon state under the NPT.
I assure you: all actions we have taken, including the decision not to lift certain restrictions on Transition Day, are in full accordance with the JCPoA and with Resolution 2231. We have not taken these steps easily. We have negotiated in good faith and we have tried to resolve the issues. In the light of Iranian non-compliance, we had to act – and reserve ourselves the option to take further steps.
Mr President,
Resolution 2231 will expire in less than a year, as many of you have said, and the clock is ticking. The E3 remain firmly committed to work towards a diplomatic solution fully addressing the concerns about Iran’s nuclear program. For this to bear fruit, Iran must urgently change course and engage in good faith. The goal of our meeting with Iran in Geneva was precisely to convey this message.
Thank you, Mr President.