IAEA Board of Governors Meeting
Statement by HE Mr Richard Sadleir, Permanent Representative of Australia to the IAEA
Agenda Item 7(e): NPT Safeguards Agreement with the Islamic Republic of Iran
4 March 2021
Australia is firmly of the view that strict and full compliance with safeguards obligations is essential for the credibility and the integrity of the international safeguards system, and for global confidence in the nuclear non-proliferation regime.
Australia strongly supports the Director General and the IAEA Secretariat in their professional and impartial implementation of Iran’s Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement and Additional Protocol (AP) commitments.
Australia is seriously concerned by Iran’s announcement that it will cease implementing provisions of its Additional Protocol.
The AP provides additional information and access to enable increased assurance of the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities in Iran.
With this situation in mind, the detection of uranium particles of anthropogenic origin now at three different sites – and the possibility of undeclared nuclear material – is deeply concerning.
Iran’s failure to provide adequate or technically credible answers to the questions put by the Agency in relation to all outstanding safeguards issues is contrary to the expectations of the global non-proliferation community.
We call on Iran to engage and cooperate fully with the IAEA to clarify and resolve all open safeguards issues without further delay.
Australia joins others in stressing that comprehensive safeguards agreements and their subsidiary arrangements must be adhered to in full and cannot be modified unilaterally.
We ask that the Director General continue to report further developments on these issues and request that GOV/2021/15 be made public.