The EU Presidency has noted with great concern the report of the IAEA Director General of 23 May regarding the Iranian nuclear programme. According to this report, Iran has once again neglected to take the necessary steps called for by the United Nations Security Council in its Resolutions 1737 and 1747 to build confidence that its nuclear programme exclusively serves civilian purposes. Rather, Iran has disregarded these appeals and has continued to drive forward its nuclear programme as well as further restricting its cooperation with the IAEA. The Presidency also notes with concern that the restrictive attitude adopted by Iran does not allow the IAEA to clarify the still-unresolved issues pertaining to the Iranian nuclear programme.

The Presidency urgently appeals to Iran to reconsider its policy and to comply with the demands of the international community in order to allow confidence in the exclusively peaceful nature of the Iranian nuclear programme to be built. Complete transparency and cooperation with the IAEA are crucial to clarifying the unresolved issues. The Presidency calls upon Iran to use the upcoming talks with Javier Solana, High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, to create the conditions for negotiations to take place.