Full Text of Statements of Iran’s Representative to Board of Governors

Full Text of Statements of Iran’s Representative to Board of Governors

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Iran’s resident representative to the IAEA Ali Asqar Soltanieh in a statement addressed to the Board of Governors in Vienna on Wednesday stressed Tehran’s loyalty to IAEA and NPT rules and further called for the settlement of the issue through talks within the boundaries of the agency.

 What follows is the full text of Soltanieh’s speech at the IAEA Board of Governors.

In the Name of God
The Compassionate, the Merciful

Mr. Chairman, Distinguished delegates,

At the outset, I would like to associate myself with the Statement delivered by the distinguished ambassador of Malaysia on behalf of the NAM in which inter alia, it recalled the Statement of Ministers of the NAM, as a majority of international community, on the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Nuclear Issue, which was adopted in Putrajaya, Malaysia May 2006.

Mr. Chairman,

Iran has been committed to the NPT and has implemented the comprehensive safeguards, in full cooperation with the IAEA.

As we have already expressed and the reports of the IAEA confirmed, the nuclear program and activities of the Islamic Republic of Iran are exclusively for peaceful purposes. In this context it should be reiterated that after over 2000 man-day and robust inspection the IAEA has several times reported to the Board of Governors that the Agency, has not found any evidence of diversion of nuclear material and activities to prohibited and military purposes and that all declared nuclear materials are accounted for.

In spite of the unjustified resolution of the United Nation Security Council, the implementation of the comprehensive safeguards, inspection in particular, has been continued. In this regard all peaceful nuclear activities are under the full surveillance, specifically the camera monitoring of the Agency. It has to be noted that even additional cameras were installed during recent inspection. This is the best indication of Iran’s commitment to assure the international community that its nuclear activities are and will remain exclusively for peaceful purposes.

Having mentioned above, it should be re-emphasized that conveying the Iran’s nuclear issue to the United Nations Security Council merely as the result of the resumption of voluntarily suspended R&D, which was, and still is, under full surveillance of safeguards of the IAEA, had no legal and technical ground which was not due to verification but solely due to politically motivated grounds, thus it has seriously undermined the professional credibility of the IAEA and the NPT.

The recent IAEA Report in which the DG has mentioned the slow pace of the resolution of the few remaining issues, should not be a matter of surprise. This should be assessed in light of the wrong decision by few members of the Board of Governors, in sending the purely technical matter from the framework of the pertinent technical organization to a security and politically oriented body namely the UNSC. Since the Iranian Government had no option but to stop voluntary measures namely provisionally implementing of the Additional Protocol and even beyond that, in accordance with law passed by the parliament. Therefore my country was forced to implement the comprehensive safeguards.

Mr. Chairman,

The proposal made by 5+1 was interpreted as a positive step to correct that mistake thus it was welcomed by Iran. As a goodwill, the Islamic Republic of Iran announced that it will seriously study the package and give its response in due time. While Iranian Government was in the process of studying all aspects of the package and preparing the appropriate forward looking response, the hasty decision to adopt a resolution by the UNSC, provoked by certain states, disappointed the majority of Member States, international community at large, since it derailed the right course of action, namely seeking negotiated solution, to a confrontation path. Nevertheless the Islamic Republic of Iran avoided confrontation and again showed its political will by responding on the already announced date, 22 August 2006.

Mr. Chairman,

At this juncture the international community expects that the response of the Islamic Republic of Iran to be taken into serious consideration by the other parties. This response has already incorporated and addressed most concerns of raised by other party. We are of the belief that if there is a political will in the other side, this response would be the best basis on which one could pave the way for an immediate solution through dialogue and negotiation.
In this context, H.E. Dr. Larijani the Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council recently met with H.E. Mr. Solana the High Commissioner of the EU Foreign Policy in Vienna. In this meeting different aspects of the mentioned proposal and Iran’s recent response, were discussed. In our point of view this meeting was a positive step in the right direction. The continuation of dialogue and negotiations free from any kind of threat, pressure or any precondition can pave the way to remove all ambiguities, if any. My government is prepared for such a process and invite other parties to positively follow this way, which finally could lead to a just and mutual satisfactory solution.

Mr. Chairman,

The international community is carefully monitoring the developments in this historical juncture. In this regard, the serious concern is not the nuclear issue of Iran but the depravation of a member state and party to the NPT from its inalienable right to acquire nuclear technology and to apply nuclear energy for peaceful purposes as a new precedent and a model which may apply to others in the future. The world is witnessing harsh measures against an NPT party, where a non-party to the NPT, namely Israel, is free from any inspection and not being questioned at the Board of Governors, and even rewarded for rejecting the NPT and non-compliance of over 25 resolutions of United Nations Security Council as well as the IAEA General Conference. This Double standard and discrimination cannot be tolerated any more.
The other serious concern is the credibility and integrity of the IAEA as the sole legal and technical competent international authority for nuclear verification, which has been jeopardized by the engagement of the United Nations Security Council.

Mr. Chairman,
In conclusion we expect the Member States of the IAEA to use this unique opportunity to pursue the following course of actions at this historical juncture:
1. Return the nuclear dossier of Iran, in full, to the IAEA’s framework, where it in fact belongs to;
2. Encourage the countries concern to take the response of Iran to the above-mentioned package, into their serious consideration;
3. Urge them to commence the negotiation, without any precondition and without further delay, in order to deal with concerns of all parties and to achieve a long term peaceful solution.

Thank you