STATEMENT TO THE 61ST REGULAR SESSION OF THE U.N.
GENERAL ASSEMBLY BY MOHAMED ELBARADEI,
IAEA DIRECTOR
GENERAL
INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY
October 30, 2006
Excerpts
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Implementation of the NPT Safeguards Agreement in the Islamic Republic of Iran
The implementation of the NPT safeguards agreement in the Islamic Republic of Iran has been on the agenda of the IAEA Board of Governors for more than three years, and lately also on the agenda of the United Nations Security Council. On 31 July 2006, the Security Council adopted resolution 1696, in which it called upon Iran to take the steps required by the Board in its resolution of 4 February 2006. These steps included the necessity of the IAEA continuing its work to clarify all outstanding issues relating to Iran’s nuclear programme, and the re-establishment by Iran of full and sustained suspension of all its enrichment related and reprocessing activities. In my report of 31 August to the Board and to the Security Council, regarding Iran´s fulfillment of the requirements of that resolution, I stated that Iran had not suspended its enrichment related activities, nor was the IAEA able to make progress on resolving the outstanding issues, issues that require certain transparency measures on the part of Iran. The IAEA continues therefore to be unable to confirm the peaceful nature of Iran´s nuclear programme, which is a matter of serious concern.
In this context, I still hope that, ultimately, through dialogue between Iran and its European and other partners, conditions will be created to engage in a long overdue negotiation to achieve a comprehensive settlement that would, on the one hand, supplement IAEA verification efforts in addressing international concerns about the peaceful nature of Iran´s nuclear programme, while on the other hand addressing Iran´s security and other concerns.
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