US, UK, Germany & France welcome IAEA resolution on Iran

IAEA board's resolution in June stated that if Iran failed to cooperate fully with the agency to resolve all outstanding safeguards issues further action would be required.

Logo of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) | Reuters

New Delhi: The United States, United Kingdom, Germany, and France have welcomed the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) Board of Governors’ adoption of a resolution on Iran’s Safeguards Agreements.

In a joint statement Saturday, the four countries said the resolution responds to Iran’s continued failure to provide the IAEA with the information and cooperation needed to clarify long outstanding issues relating to undeclared nuclear material detected at multiple locations in Iran.

“These issues are central to the Agency’s ability to provide assurance of the exclusively peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear programme,” they said.

“Iran is legally obligated under its Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Safeguards Agreement to cooperate fully with the IAEA and account for all nuclear material and activities,” they added.

The four powers stated that the IAEA Board’s last resolution in June stated that if Iran failed to cooperate fully with the Agency to resolve all outstanding safeguards issues and implement safeguards obligations under its Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement, further action would be required.

“This follows the Board’s repeated requests over several years calling on Iran to resolve these issues,” they said.

“Despite the Director General’s continued efforts to engage in a substantive dialogue, Iran has not provided the information or cooperation needed to address them and has instead responded to the Board’s calls with threats and provocations,” they added.

“Since 2019, the Agency has sought to clarify the outstanding safeguards issues and make progress. For nearly five years now, Iran has consistently failed to implement the commitments it has made to the Agency,” the statement said.