Thank you to France in your capacity as President of the Security Council for convening this meeting and for doing so despite those on this Council who seek to undermine the work of this Committee.

One year ago, the Council decided to reestablish the 1737 Committee.

This vote represented a widely held concern amongst Members about an Iranian nuclear program progressing in the dark, without the international community’s visibility.

The Council therefore chose to establish this committee with a specific, narrowly scoped mandate: to oversee, in support of the six reinstated Security Council resolutions, the implementation of the sanctions measures, a sanctions list, and reports every 90 days.

Those efforts persist, even as obstructionist colleagues remain determined to obscure public visibility into sanctions violations and evasions.

This interference aims to allow Iran to maintain its noncompliance with respect to its NPT-mandated safeguards and to protect its partners who violate sanctions under the 1737 regime.

In his latest report just this week, International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Grossi said that the agency has not received information from Iran regarding the status of its declared nuclear materials or facilities. The IAEA did not have access to any of those facilities to conduct in-field verification activities.

The Director General said this lack of accessibility left the agency unable to discharge its safeguards responsibilities under Iran’s safeguards agreement.

He once again called on Iran to engage the Agency constructively.

In response to Iran’s claims that Iran has not allowed IAEA inspections out of concerns for the safety of its inspectors, DG Grossi noted that, “Ukraine has been a worse and more constant war zone.” Yet those inspectors have still managed to carry out inspections at nuclear facilities throughout the war between Russia and Ukraine.

This week, the IAEA’s meeting of the Board of Governors, the IAEA Board voted to approve a resolution that urges Iran to urgently come into compliance with its Safeguards Agreement. We call on Iran to take all necessary steps by the Agency and the Board, including the information on the previously declared nuclear material and access to facilities.

Iran and its supporters on this Committee are well aware of what Iran needs to do to resolve this issue.

The United States will continue to promote the broadest possible international compliance with the state obligations mandated by this Council’s resolutions.

We will look to partners in the coming days to weigh options to ensure that there is sufficient infrastructure in place to support that goal.

Thank you.