Foreign Office Minister, Ian Pearson, today commented on the Iran nuclear issue.

Mr Pearson said:

Yesterday in Vienna we achieved consensus on a resolution urging Iran to suspend its nuclear fuel cycle activity. The International Community is clear and united.

Earlier this week, Iran made a serious mistake in resuming part of its nuclear fuel cycle by restarting its uranium conversion facility in clear breach of previous international agreements and IAEA Board resolutions. There is no good reason why it should have done this if its intentions are peaceful and it wants to resolve international concerns.

We hope Iran will reverse this decision, and return to the negotiating table with the UK, France and Germany who are backed fully by the European Union.

Iran must restore the confidence of the international community and provide the right guarantees that its nuclear programme is exclusively peaceful. Suspending all uranium conversion activity is an essential part of that process. Only with confidence restored can negotiations continue.

We still believe there is a non-confrontational way forward and we hope that Iran makes that choice by resuming full suspension of all their nuclear fuel cycle activity, as called for in yesterday's resolution.

Notes for Editors

1. The IAEA Board resolution is available on their website