IAEA Board of Governors
Agenda item 6: Verification and monitoring in the Islamic Republic of Iran in light of United Nations Security Council resolution 2231 (2015)
4 March 2025
Statement by H.E Ambassador Ian Biggs, Governor and Resident Representative of Australia to the IAEA
Chair.
Australia is deeply troubled by the developments in Iran’s nuclear program which are confirmed in the Director General’s report under this agenda item.
After a long period of steady growth, Iran’s program is now rapidly accelerating. Since the Director General’s last quarterly report in November 2024, Iran has stepped up its expansion of its enrichment capacity. It is installing, and operating, a significant number of new advanced centrifuge cascades at Natanz and Fordow. And it is producing and accumulating ever greater amounts of enriched uranium. Most dramatically, it has swiftly increased its rate of production of uranium enriched up to 60%. In just a few months, its stockpile of such material has increased by close to 100kg.
As the Director General stresses in his report, this is a matter of serious concern. Iran has no credible civilian reason to produce uranium enriched to this level. Its accelerating accumulation of such material exacerbates the grave doubts that exist regarding its intentions.
Iran’s continuing lack of transparency also contributes to these doubts. It is now four years since Iran ceased to implement its nuclear-related commitments under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. As a result, the Agency has lost continuity of knowledge in relation to Iran’s production and inventory of centrifuges, rotors and bellows, heavy water and uranium ore concentrate. For four years, Iran has not implemented the Additional Protocol, preventing the Agency from conducting complementary access to sites and locations in Iran. Because of Iran’s actions, the Agency is unable to provide assurance that Iran’s accelerating program is exclusively peaceful.
Chair,
This alarming situation is not acceptable, and gives rise to a serious threat to international security. Iran must change course. We urge Iran to re-apply the transparency measures which it stopped applying in 2021, including implementation of the AP; to cooperate on reinstallation of surveillance and monitoring equipment; to fully reverse its de-designation of experienced Agency inspectors; and to implement fully, and without delay, the Joint Statement of 4 March 2023.
We thank the Director General and the Agency’s inspectors for their impartial, dedicated and professional work regarding Iran. We request that the Director General continue to report further developments to the Board, and ask that his latest report be made public.
Thank you, Chair.