Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Newport, Wales. I am very grateful to the Almighty for ensuring that the weather has been good; however, I am sorry that it was in the hands of the Almighty that some unseen human hand has led to the problems you have had in getting proper internet access. I can only apologise for that. I am very concerned about it, and I have been told that the technical people are doing everything they can to resolve it.

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THE SITUATION IN IRAN

We then discussed at some length Iran, followed by an agreement to come back to the issue of our relationship with Russia. Member states regretted that Iran had chosen to regret without, we felt, serious consideration the European side's detailed proposals, which we presented to them on 5 August. They are the most far reaching proposals for relations between Iran and Europe presented since the Iranian revolution. In our judgment, they provide the basis for a new relationship based on cooperation. All member states expressed deep concern at Iran's resumption of uranium conversion, which is in breach of successive International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) board resolutions, and the Paris Agreement, which was entered into between Iran and the European Union E3 last November. The European Union very much hopes that Iran will reconsider its position. We look forward to the IAEA Director General Mohammad El Baradei's report in respect of Iran in two days' time on 3 September.

The key to resolving this issue is for Iran to take the confidence building steps requested of it in those successive board resolutions. We agreed that Iran's recent actions undermined the confidence which was being built and which was a challenge to the European Union; it is a situation that we thought we could not accept. Unless suspension was reinstated, there would have to be a response - for example, a report of the IAEA's wider concerns about Iran's nuclear programme - to the United Nations Security Council. We also agreed that before making decisions, we would wait to see Dr El Baradei's report and pursue consultations with other board members on the next steps.

A second concern expressed very strongly by European Union colleagues today related to Iran's human rights record. This remains a major concern of the European Union and, together with the nuclear issue, terrorism and Iran's attitude to the Middle East peace process, would remain a major factor which shaped our foreign policy. We will be monitoring these issues closely.

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