At the IAEA Board of Governors meeting in Vienna today, UK Ambassador Simon Smith delivered a strong statement on Iran's nuclear ambitions. The EU also issued a statement on Iran.

UK Ambassador Simon Smith delivered a strong E3 statement on Iran today at the IAEA Board of Governors meeting in Vienna.

The statement by UK, France and Germany expressed regret and dismay at Iran's decision to continue its enrichment programme in defiance of UNSCRs and a Board resolution passed in November last year. It also notes deep concern at points raised in the IAEA Director General's report on Iran. In particular, "concerns about the possible existence in Iran of past or current undisclosed activities related to the development of a nuclear payload for a missile". Read the full statement below:

"I have the honour to speak on behalf of the Governments of France, Germany and the UK. Our three countries also associate themselves fully with the statement read out earlier on behalf of the European Union by the distinguished Governor of Spain.

As all Board members will know, our three countries have, working alongside the EU's High Representative, sustained a special effort on behalf of all EU countries to promote a cooperative, constructive and mutually beneficial outcome to resolve the questions raised over the last several years by Iran's activities in the nuclear field.

We have engaged in this task with a deep rooted conviction that serious efforts need to be made to reduce, not increase, the sources of tension and instability throughout the Middle East. We have set out, and repeatedly refreshed, a substantial vision of cooperation with Iran, ready for implementation if and when Iran chooses a path of cooperation, rather than confrontation.

Against this background, it is with profound regret and dismay that our three countries assess developments since this Board last discussed Iran in November 2009. We deplore in particular the decision by Iran to begin enriching uranium to a level of 20%. As colleagues will recall, the November Board adopted by a substantial majority a resolution which urged Iran to comply with the mandatory requirements placed upon it by the UN Security Council, to comply fully and without qualification with its safeguards obligations, and to address the questions asked of it by the Agency.

Mr Chairman, the report which the DG has submitted to this Board confirms a deplorable failure on Iran's part to implement any of the requirements set out in that resolution. It confirms an Iranian posture of profound disrespect for the institutions of this Agency and for the principles of trust, transparency and cooperation on which they rely. And it confirms above all that Iran remains determined, in its disregard of the requirements of UNSC and this Board, to violate international law.

We note with deep concern what the DG tells us about the volume of evidence raising "concerns about the possible existence in Iran of past or current undisclosed activities related to the development of a nuclear payload for a missile". We have noted with equal concern that these activities "seem to have continued beyond 2004".

Mr Chairman, the questions raised here are serious and disturbing. They need answers, not evasions.

These questions on "possible military dimensions have been of concern for some time. But in recent weeks, far from seeing any of these long-standing concerns resolved, we have had to take account of new developments that have even further deepened the deficit of trust in Iran's activities.

We have seen the revelation of a new enrichment site at Fordow - a site on which it was apparently never Iran's intention that it should be known to the world. We have heard the announcement by Iran of the intention to build ten new enrichment facilities. And we have seen Iran begin to enrich uranium to the 20% level. We note with particular concern that Iran flatly disregarded the Agency's request s in relation to the start of the 20% enrichment process.

Mr Chairman, each of these developments diminishes confidence in Iran's willingness to engage cooperatively. So, in addition, does the failure of Iran to grasp the opportunity offered by the arrangements proposed by the DG of the IAEA in October 2009 to refuel the Tehran Research Reactor. Let us just remind ourselves of the nature of that proposal. It was not intended to be a solution to the central problem - an answer to much wider range of questions which have engendered the fundamental lack of trust in the exclusively peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear activities, but rather a fair and transparent response to the Iranian need for nuclear fuel and medical radio-isotopes.

And what it could be, if Iran were prepared to accept its terms, is an initial, useful and long-awaited step down the path of re-building confidence. But with its decision to enrich to 20%, its declared intention to open further enrichment plants, and its aggravated obstruction of the work of the Agency's safeguards division, Iran has made that path longer and more difficult.

It remains our hope that Iran will in future take, not reject, opportunities to choose the path of cooperation, rather than the path of confrontation and non-compliance. But we remain equally determined to show that there is a serious and increasing cost for Iran in sticking to the non-cooperative path, and for continuing to violate international rules and standards.

The DG's reports to this Board will continue to be an essential reference point in informing our judgements on the degree of cooperation or non-cooperation in Iran's posture. We thank the DG and his staff for the clarity and objectivity with which they have informed us. But we take only the deepest concern from the disturbing picture they have painted."

The 27 states of the EU also issued a strong statement condemning Iran's failure to fully cooperate with the IAEA.