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New Zealand intervention
Mr Chairman
I wish to add New Zealand’s voice to those who have expressed concern regarding the situation as described in the Director General’s Report on the implementation of the NPT Safeguards Agreement and relevant Security Council resolutions in the Islamic Republic of Iran. New Zealand shares the concerns of the international community about the questions that remain regarding Iran's nuclear programme.
We appreciate the Agency’s ongoing efforts to clarify all outstanding issues and note the progress made on the contamination at the Technical University, on Polonium 210, and on the Gachine Mine. We note, however, that, even with those issues the IAEA has classified as “no longer outstanding at this stage”, the Agency will continue to seek corroboration if its findings and verify these issues as part of its overall verification of the completeness of Iran’s declarations.
We note with concern that the one issue the Agency notes as continuing to be outstanding, the “alleged studies”, has been identified by them as a matter of serious concern and critical to an assessment of a possible military dimension to Iran’s nuclear programme. We urge Iran to work with the Agency to clarify the many issues now grouped under this item, and to allow the Agency the greatest degree of transparency in this work. We hope that, with Iran’s active cooperation, the Agency’s continuing efforts will result in the early resolution of all aspects of all of the outstanding issues.
Mr Chairman, we remain deeply concerned about Iran's failure to comply with the provisions of UN Security Council and IAEA resolutions, particularly in relation to the calls for them to suspend all enrichment and reprocessing activities, and by their failure to implement the Additional Protocol and to reconsider the decision to suspend implementation of the modified text of their Subsidiary Arrangements under modified Code 3.1. We note also that work on the construction of the IR-40 reactor and operation of the Heavy Water Production plant has continued, and that Iran has begun development of a new generation centrifuge. We endorse the Director General’s call for Iran to comply with all IAEA Board of Governors decisions and UN Security Council resolutions without delay.
We recognise that the Director General notes in his report that Iran has provided some information on current activities similar to that which Iran had previously provided pursuant to the Additional Protocol, as well as updated design information, and that as a result the Agency’s knowledge about Iran’s current declared nuclear programme has become clearer than it was at the time of the last report. This is encouraging, Mr Chairman, but we note the Director General’s comment that this information has been provided on an ad hoc basis and not in a consistent and complete manner.
We also note that the Director General has advised that the Agency will not be in a position to make progress towards credible assurances about the absence of undeclared material and activities in Iran before receiving some clarity about the nature of the alleged studies and without implementation of the Additional Protocol.
We agree with the Director General that these steps are especially important in the light of the many years of undeclared activities in Iran and the confidence deficit created as a result. We join with the Director General in urging Iran to implement all necessary measures called for by the Board of Governors and the UN Security Council to build confidence in the peaceful nature of its nuclear programme.
New Zealand strongly supports a diplomatic solution to Iran’s nuclear programme based on Iran’s compliance with IAEA and UNSC requirements. Iran must play its part to realise this outcome.
Thank you Mr Chairman
