EU Statement at IAEA Board of Governors on Verification and monitoring in the Islamic Republic of Iran in light of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2231 (2015), as[...]

Chair,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union. The candidate countries North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova and Bosnia and Herzegovina[1], the EFTA countries Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, members of the European Economic Area, as well as San Marino, align themselves with this statement.

The European Union would like to thank the Director General for hisreport and DDG Aparo for the technical briefing.We commend the Director Generaland the Secretariat for their professional, independent and impartial work. It is a key security priority for the EU to ensure that Iran does not acquire a nuclear weapon. The EU remains committed to a diplomatic solution to the Iranian nuclear issue.We call on all countries to support the implementation of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2231 (2015). Weregret that Iran has not made the necessary decisions to return to its nuclear-related commitments under the JCPOA,to which the EU remains committed.Iran's unabated nuclear advances over the last 5 years have made a return to the JCPOA increasingly challenging. The risk of a nuclear proliferation crisis in the regionis increasing as a result of Iran's escalating nuclear trajectory. The EU remains deeply concerned by the continued alarming expansion of Iran's nuclear programme. Iran has gravely departedfrom its JCPOA commitments andhas gainedirreversible knowledge.The EU notes with particular concern Iran's considerable accumulation of high enriched uranium and expansion of nuclear enrichmentcapabilityand operations, including through the installation of thousands of additional advanced centrifuges.The DG's report documentsa particularly sharp rise of material at 60%. Such actions carry very significant proliferation-related risks and raise grave concerns about Iran's intentions, since they have no credible civilian justification. In this context, the EU remains concerned bystatements made by Iranian officials in the previous reporting period about Iran's capacity to assemble a nuclear weapon.Iran has informed the Agency it would not reverse itsSeptember 2023decision to withdraw thedesignations for any of the experienced Agency inspectorspreviously working inIran. We urge Iran to reverse that extreme decision, which, directly and seriously impacts on the Agency´s work in Iran,without delay.Thisis essential to allow the Agency to conduct its verification activities in Iran effectivelyand in full.

Chair,

Iran has stopped the implementation of its nuclear related commitments under the JCPOA. For more than threeand a halfyears, the Agencyhas beenunable to carry out several key JCPOA-relatedverification and monitoring activities. Iran's subsequent decision to have allof the Agency's JCPOA-related surveillance and monitoring equipment removed,has further exacerbated the situation. The Agencyhas lostcontinuity of knowledgeonthe production and inventory of centrifuges, rotors and bellows, heavy water and uranium concentrate.Therefore, the Agencyis unableto provide assurance of the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear programme.We reiterate our grave concernsin this regard. Iran is the only non-nuclear weapon State to systematicallyproduce and accumulate highlyenriched uranium. This adds not only to the Agency's concerns, as stressed in the report, but also to ours. In light of these multiple and grave concerns, we strongly urge Iran to reverse its alarming nuclear trajectory andreturn to itsnuclear non-proliferation commitments without further delay. The EU expects Iranto complete theinstallation of surveillance and monitoring equipment andgrant the Agency unhindered access to theirdata. We also urge Iran to return to theprovisionalimplementation of the Additional Protocol,to ratify it, and to resume implementation of all JCPOA-related monitoring and verification measures. This, together with full implementation ofthe legally binding CSA and modified Code 3.1, is essentialto help building international confidencein the exclusively peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear programme. Timely and full cooperation with the IAEA remains absolutely crucial. The EU wholly supportsthe IAEA's efforts to continue implementing itslong-term mission of continuedverification and monitoring in Iran. We reiterate our support for the Director General's efforts in the pursuit of a constructive engagement with Iran to enhance cooperation and address issues that need to be urgently resolved. Weunequivocally call on Iran to engage effectively with the IAEA without any further delay. With this, we takenote of the Director General's report and request that it be made public.

Thank you, Chair.

[1]North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.