EU Statement on NPT Safeguards Agreement with the Islamic Republic of Iran, IAEA Board of Governors on 5 June 2024

Chair,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union. The candidate countries North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, Ukraine, 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 thanks the Director General for his update on the NPT Safeguards Agreement with Iran and commends the DG and the Secretariat for their professional, independent and impartial work in verifying Iran's safeguards obligations.

The EU is gravely concerned that the Agency is still not in a position to provide assurance that Iran’s nuclear programme is exclusively peaceful, due to Iran’s lack of cooperation. It is regrettable that, despite three Board resolutions and numerous opportunities, Iran has not provided technically credible explanations that would enable the Agency to confirm the correctness and completeness of Iran’s declarations.

Five years have passed since uranium particles of anthropogenic origin were found at Turquzabad and almost four years since similar particles were also found at Varamin. It is 18 months since the Board decided in its November 2022 resolution that it was essential and urgent that Iran clarifies all outstanding safeguards issues. These issues relate to undeclared activities and sites involving undeclared nuclear material, which may still exist in Iran today and might not be under Agency safeguards. This is deeply concerning. Iran needs to resolve these issues stemming from its legally binding obligations. Iran must allow verification by the Agency of the non-diversion of nuclear material.

The EU supports the Agency’s efforts to obtain progress from Iran on resolving safeguards issues and improving cooperation. It is highly concerning that there has been no progress on the implementation of the March 2023 Joint Statement, for the fourth consecutive Board. We call on Iran to implement the Joint Statement and seriously engage on the basis of the Agency’s latest concrete proposals.

We note that Iran has yet to reverse its September 2023 decision to withdraw the designations of several key experienced Agency inspectors. We expect Iran to do so without further delay. The Agency has explained that this is essential to fully allow the Agency to conduct its verification activities in Iran effectively.

We are gravely concerned about the numerous public statements made in Iran on its capability to produce nuclear weapons, and rhetoric on possible changes to its nuclear doctrine. Such statements are completely incompatible with Iran’s legal obligations under the NPT, and add to the concerns about the correctness and completeness of Iran’s safeguards declarations.

We urge Iran to resume the provisional implementation of the Additional Protocol and to bring it into force, to enable the Agency to provide credible assurances on the absence of undeclared nuclear activities. We stress that the implementation of modified Code 3.1 is a legal obligation under the Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement, which cannot be modified or suspended unilaterally.

According to the Agency’s latest assessments, nuclear material related to a discrepancy in nuclear material balance at the multipurpose laboratory (JHL) remains unaccounted for. There are indications that the amount of uranium contained in the solid waste that was sent for dissolution was less than Iran declared.  In this regard, we note and support the Agency’s ongoing evaluation of additional complex technical elements related to past uranium metal production experiments. We call on Iran to earnestly address this matter.

To conclude, the EU urges Iran to work with the Agency swiftly and substantially, towards full compliance with its CSA obligations. It remains essential and urgent that Iran delivers on the actions specified in the November 2022 resolution. In light of Iran’s persistent failure to cooperate towards the clarification of all outstanding issues, we believe the time has come to act. We therefore fully support the draft resolution tabled by France, Germany and the United Kingdom for this Board, in support of the DG’s action to obtain concrete progress from Iran, and call on all Board Members to support it.

With this, the EU looks forward to additional reporting from the Director General on the Agency’s assessment of Iran’s implementation of its safeguards obligations and requests that this report 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.