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Regarding the issue of Iran’s nuclear programme, you have before you my latest report on Verification and monitoring in the Islamic Republic of Iran in light of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2231 (2015). You will note that Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium continues to increase, including that enriched up to 60%.  The Agency has lost continuity of knowledge in relation to the production and inventory of centrifuges, rotors and bellows, heavy water and uranium ore concentrate. It has been more than three years since Iran stopped provisionally applying its Additional Protocol and therefore it is also over three years since the Agency was able to conduct complementary access in Iran.

You also have before you my report on the NPT Safeguards Agreement with the Islamic Republic of Iran. There has been no progress in resolving the outstanding safeguards issues. Iran has not provided the Agency with technically credible explanations for the presence of uranium particles of anthropogenic origin at Varamin and Turquzabad or informed the Agency of the current location(s) of the nuclear material and/or of contaminated equipment.

Iran still is not implementing modified Code 3.1, having stated it had suspended such implementation. These outstanding safeguards issues stem from Iran’s obligations under its Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement and need to be resolved for the Agency to be in a position to provide assurance that Iran’s nuclear programme is exclusively peaceful. Further public statements made in Iran regarding its technical capabilities to produce nuclear weapons and possible changes to Iran’s nuclear doctrine only increase my concerns about the correctness and completeness of Iran’s safeguards declarations.

In early May, I travelled to Tehran and met with Minister of Foreign Affairs, H. E. the late Mr. Hossein Amir-Abdollahian; and Vice-President of the Islamic Republic of Iran and President of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), H. E. Mr. Mohammad Eslami. I shared with them some concrete proposals to reinvigorate the implementation of the Joint Statement of 4 March 2023.

I deeply regret that Iran has yet to reverse its decision to withdraw the designations for several experienced Agency inspectors. Nevertheless, I welcome Iran’s agreement that the Joint Statement continues to provide a framework for cooperation with the Agency and for addressing the outstanding issues and call upon Iran to implement the Joint Statement through serious engagement with the Agency’s concrete proposals.

I reiterate to the new government of the Islamic Republic of Iran my call for, and disposition to continue with, the high-level dialogue and ensuing technical exchanges commenced as a result of the meetings with the late Foreign Minister and the current acting Foreign Minister HE Mr Ali Bagheri Kani on 6 and 7 May in Tehran and Esfahan. During subsequent communication with Minister Kani, we agreed to pursue further efforts as discussed in Tehran in early May.

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