IAEA Board of Governors Meeting: 14 June 2017
Statement by HE Dr Brendon Hammer, Resident Representative to the IAEA
Agenda Item: Verification and Monitoring in the Islamic Republic of Iran in light of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2231 (2015)
Thank you, Chair.
As the Board knows, Australia attaches utmost importance to the Agency’s monitoring and verification in Iran – under the JCPOA – of the implementation of all of Iran’s nuclear-related commitments – as requested in UNSCR 2231 and as authorised by the Board of Governors.
We appreciate the regular reporting provided to the Board of Governors, through the Director General’s written report and the associated technical briefing and we welcome the Director General’s advice on 2 June that Iran’s nuclear-related activities were carried out within the parameters agreed under the JCPOA, during the reporting period.
Chair,
Australia is pleased that the report provides updates on Iran’s LEU and heavy water stockpiles, and that these have remained under the prescribed limits since the last report. We note that the implementation of the Joint Commission decision early in 2017 to reduce the LEU stockpile has had a positive effect in further decreasing it well below the JCPOA limit, to 79.8 kg. We welcome this.
We also note that the Heavy Water Production Plant has been shut down for maintenance and that Iran’s stock of heavy water is 128.2 metric tonnes. We note positively that the JCPOA limit of 130 metric tonnes was not breached again and we encourage Iran to continue to ensure no excess heavy water is produced in future.
My delegation also welcomes the Director General’s advice that Iran continues to provisionally apply the Additional Protocol to its Safeguards Agreement – pending entry into force – and that complementary accesses have been conducted. We further note that Iran continues to facilitate the work of Agency inspectors, including by issuing long-term visas and through the use of electronic and automated monitoring and measuring devices.
Chair,
The international community remains, as before, interested and invested in the integrity and effective implementation of the JCPOA. In this regard, it is of vital importance that all parties to the Agreement pay scrupulous attention to the implementation of their commitments. With this in mind, we maintain our request that the Director General provide as much information as possible in his written reports to the Board, particularly where it can be used to identify potential issues before they arise.
In this regard, Australia particularly welcomed in this most recent report additional information on relevant monitoring and verification under Annex 1 – “Nuclear Related Matters”. Continued reporting in this manner will allow the Board to follow the record of implementation of the JCPOA over time and with a suitable level of transparency.
Australia supports the public release of the Director General’s report GOV/2017/24.
Thank you, Chair.