The Foreign Secretary Jack Straw speaking as Presidency on behalf of the EU issued the following statement on 24 September, following the adoption of a resolution at the IAEA Board of Governors in Vienna.

'Today, the IAEA Board has just passed a resolution finding Iran not compliant with its Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT) obligations, whilst deferring Iran's report to the Security Council. The voting was 22 in favour, with one against (Venezuela) and 12 abstentions.

'Both the fact of the resolution and the scale of the vote in its favour are very important if we are to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons capability. All this would not have been achieved without a firm and united approach by the E3/EU and excellent work by our diplomats in Vienna and capitals. The details in Dr El Baradei's latest report and Iran's failure to take and stick to the confidence building measures the IAEA Board had earlier called for made such a determination inevitable.

'My European colleagues and I have listened carefully to the concerns of our international partners that we should allow more time for negotiations. That is why we agreed that a report to the Security Council by the IAEA would not be made immediately. I hope Iran will take this opportunity to meet the concerns expressed by the Board: the European side for its part is prepared to resume negotiations within the framework agreed between the Europeans and Iran last November.

'Iran has an opportunity now to address the clear concerns of the IAEA, and the lack of confidence in Iran's nuclear intentions. It is only when Iran demonstrates beyond any doubt that it is not seeking a nuclear weapons capability that it will be able to develop a better relationship with Europe and the international community as a whole.'

Notes to Editors

1. The adoption of the resolution by majority vote followed several days of intense debate at the IAEA Board following Iran's decision to restart its uranium conversion facility at Isfahan in early August and a consensus resolution adopted by the IAEA Board on 11 August which urged Iran to resume the suspension of its nuclear fuel cycle activities.

2. The European position on Iran nuclear programme was explained more fully on 22 September in a Wall St Journal article by E3 Foreign Ministers plus Javier Solana, as well as in an EU statement delivered to the IAEA Board on 21 September, which is available in the news area of the FCO website.