“We restated the stances and positions of the Islamic Republic of Iran at the meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors and we reiterated that we will stay committed to the agreement on the condition that the other signatories live up to their commitments under the deal without setting any conditions,” said Reza Najafi, the Iranian Ambassador to International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna on Wednesday.
He made the remarks addressing journalists on the sidelines of the quarterly meeting of the IAEA's Board of Governors.
“During the recent meeting of the IAEA's Board of Governors, we once again explained the technical issues related to heavy water and the concept of the inventory, but as the IAEA Director General said the failure of the JCPOA equals the failure of multilateralism,” added the Iranian envoy to Vienna.
Here is the full text of his address at the before the Board of Governors in Vienna, March 2018:
In the Name of God, The Compassionate and the Merciful
Mr. Chairman, Director General, Distinguished Colleagues,
I would like to express my delegation’s appreciation to the Agency’s Secretariat for the efforts on the verification measures related to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
As my delegation has stated repeatedly during the negotiations on the JCPOA and then its implementation, reciprocal and full implementation of the commitments by all parties, including by E3/EU+3 is the essential basis of the JCPOA and is the crucial element of the agreement for its sustainability.
Iran for its part, since the Implementation Day, has honored its commitments under the JCPOA and the Agency’s reports on verification and monitoring of JCPOA in Iran for the tenth time provides strong evidence to such commitment. However, the implementation of the commitments of other sides to the JCPOA, in particular the United States is disappointing and unacceptable. Indeed, by limiting Iran’s benefits from the deal the US Government in contradiction with both letter and spirit of the agreement, particularly paragraphs 26, 28 and 29 of the JCPOA, has taken a destructive approach to undermine “successful implementation” of the JCPOA. The US non-compliance with its commitments under the JCPOA has not only undermined this international agreement but also has put the US credibility for any international deal under serious question. As the Director General has rightly pointed out, the failure of the JCPOA would be a great loss for multilateralism.
The agreement reached on July 14, 2015 has unambiguously provided for the full lifting of all UNSC sanctions and all unilateral or multilateral nuclear-related sanctions. Furthermore, the E3/EU+3 have an unequivocal responsibility to implement the JCPOA “in good faith and in a constructive atmosphere, based on mutual respect, and to refrain from any action inconsistent with the letter, spirit and intent of the JCPOA that would undermine its successful implementation”. The US unconditionally should comply with all its obligations under the JCPOA.
We have always stressed at different levels that the JCPOA is not a one-sided road and Iran’s implementation of its commitments could continue only if all other parties to the JCPOA continue to implement fully and unconditionally their commitments. Anything other than full implementation of the commitments in good faith clearly would be contrary to the letter and the spirit of the JCPOA.
Mr. Chairman,
Although the recent updated report (GOV/2018/7), as I indicated earlier, once more demonstrates that Iran’s nuclear program continues within the framework of the JCPOA, I would like to reiterate several points:
1. As we stated before, the JCPOA text on heavy water reads that;" all excess heavy water which is beyond Iran’s needs, will be made available for export to the international market based on international prices and delivered to the international buyer for 15 years". That is the only commitment Iran has in this regard.
2. We would like to emphasize once again that the report should be as concise as possible and stay away from mentioning avoidable unnecessary detailed information, particularly it must not reflect any confidential Safeguards information.
3. My delegation would also like to reaffirm our observation on the definition of “stockpile” and its difference with the term “inventory” and recall that this is a matter of our discussion in the Joint Commission.
4. Finally yet importantly, I would like to put on record our strong reservation on some arbitrary interpretations contrary to the clear text of different sections of Annex I of the JCPOA and the history of negotiations on that. The Agency is not in a position to interpret JCPOA. It is exclusively the duty of Joint Commission to do so by consensus. Thus, para 25 of the current report is not factually correct and should be rectified.
Before concluding, I would like to refer to few delegations that asked once again for release of the raw and detailed confidential safeguards information contrary to the BOG approved mandate. Such request suggests that the Agency should not be trusted and the Agency itself should be verified again independently by some paid NGOs. My delegation would like to recall that in addition to the provisions of Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement, Article 5 and Article 15 of the Additional Protocol for protection of confidential information, the JCPOA clearly requests the Agency “to take every precaution to protect commercial, technological and industrial secrets as well as other confidential information coming to its knowledge”. We strongly oppose the disclosure of confidential safeguard information in the any upcoming report under the pretext of more transparency.
For the last speaker before me, as usual you heard an unrelated statement. Let us see where Zionist regime of Israel sits. It sits on tens of inhumane nuclear warheads, it sits on un-safeguarded clandestine nuclear facilities at Dimona that has also leaked radioactive materials to the neighborhood causing the spread of cancer disease to innocent people and it sits on underground WMD facilities where it works on biological and chemical weapons. For these reasons it has never acceded to CWC, BWC and the NPT. Now this regime that made desperately every effort to prevent the JCPOA conclusion, surprisingly talks about JCPOA implementation concern which is totally ridiculous. This regime with a history full of aggression and occupation has flagrantly violated all resolutions adopted by the UN Security Council in response to its repeated acts of aggression and illegal occupation, as well as its well-documented atrocities, apartheid policies and war crimes against the Palestinian people. This regime cannot create a smokescreen for its illegitimate nuclear weapon program, which is a real threat to regional and international peace and security.
Thank you Mr. Chairman
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