Russia’s permanent representation to international organizations in Vienna’s speech at the IAEA BOG was held on September 10th and was republished from the website of the Russian Mission in Vienna.
The IAEA’s efforts to carry out verification activities in Iran during the reporting period were undermined by planned, unprovoked, full-scale attacks by Israel and the United States. After a careful review of the Director’s presented report, we regret that it did not contain any previously published information on the scale and nature of the destruction of Iran’s nuclear facilities under IAEA protection measures exposed to US and Israeli strikes. By including this information, the delegation believes that it has at least roughly estimated the amount of work that Iranian experts need to perform.
Next, I would like to express my vision of the current situation regarding Iran’s nuclear program.
Since its adoption, the JCPOA has been the most prominent example of a successful comprehensive and long-term settlement over the years through political and diplomatic measures of complex and confusing international issues regarding Iran’s nuclear program. During the first two years of its existence, the transaction was carried out and its effectiveness and prospects were proven. First of all, it was based on the interests of all participants in its success and the support of the international community. Iran has applied additional protocols to its safeguard agreement with the IAEA. This has revised Code 3.1 in full cooperation with the Agency Secretariat, which had the clearest picture of Tehran’s activities in the nuclear field at the time. Furthermore, Iran voluntarily restricted it to the parameters provided by the JCPOA.
If you hear the speeches from the UK, Germany, France and the US, it will be absolutely clear that everything they currently demand from Tehran was in full compliance with before. So, what were they missing at the time? The answer is simple – the ability to negotiate. Having everything, they want more. And now they are demanding that Iran waive its legal rights under the NPT to enrich uranium. Ten years after the JCPOA came into effect, the fact that it is impossible to fully implement the targets listed therein is merely a result of the fact that the US and E3 intentionally interfered with the implementation of the contract in the first place. They preferred the wasted path of “maximum pressure” on Tehran over the principle of progressive trust building. The result of this is both US and Israeli military attacks and E3’s attempts to launch a «snapback» mechanism. All of this is never related to the task of nuclear non-proliferation. What Western countries are doing openly to Iran in front of everyone is nothing but undermining international law and the fundamental principles of the nuclear non-proliferation regime.
We have repeatedly pointed out the illegality of E3’s attempts to launch the “snapback” mechanism as envisaged by UN Security Council Resolution 2231. On the eve of the governor’s session, we, along with our Chinese and Iranian partners, distributed a joint letter from foreign ministers of Iran, China and Russia, as IAEA information is spreading on the issue. We encourage everyone to read the content carefully.
Not only did Washington do nothing, he was the most active participant in the demolition measures filmed to destroy the JCPOA, Berlin, London and Paris. First, E3 countries violated their obligation to lift national restrictions on the day of the JCPOA transition on October 18, 2023, and since then, openly at the highest political level, Israel and the United States justified strikes over the establishment of Iran’s nuclear weapons.
Now, the country’s group is trying to punish Iran, and at the same time misleading members of the Security Council. At the same time, they are unable to explain the benefits that such steps will bring to the nuclear non-proliferation regime, nor can they clearly demonstrate any further negotiation strategies with Iran. All of this is playing with fire, but the results are very obvious – not only to undermine stability in the Middle East, but also to directly undermine international peace and security.
Against the backdrop of attempts to launch “Snapback,” it looks like ocky to ensure E3’s guarantees on the remaining «windows for diplomacy and to call on Iran to accept certain deals by the end of September. Colleagues – What deal are we talking about? Isn’t that what you destroyed with your own hands? If so, nothing would have prevented us from resuming negotiations within the Vienna framework since mid-2022. This had an opportunity. We cannot help but be wary of the deep disappointment of the European Union’s sense of helplessness, the coordinator of the JCPOA.
The Russian Federation is always committed to finding solutions to global problems through political and diplomatic means. Under this obligation, together with China, we submitted a resolution to the UN Security Council to extend resolution 2231 for six months. This provides the space needed for diplomacy.
The US and Israeli attacks on Iran are its repeated, ongoing open threat, unprecedented and serious challenges for both the IAEA and its protection systems. Previously adopted decision-making bodies resolutions and decisions clearly interpreted such actions as violations of international law and violations of the United Nations and IAEA law. In this regard, we were surprised by the distribution information that the US was trying to prove its opposition. In particular, an informal document distributed at the Vienna venue in response to a resolution at the upcoming IAEA General Assembly session, “Prohibition of all forms of attacks and threats on nuclear facilities under IAEA protection measures” states that neither IAEA law nor international law, including humanitarian law or accidents involving nuclear facilities banning accidents. Frankly, I initially thought this was a fake aimed at trusting the United States. But in the end, this is not a fake, but an actual document that reflects Washington’s opinion that attacks on nuclear facilities are normal. Such legal nihilism can only raise extreme concerns.
Despite all the obvious difficulties, we believe that the solution to the situation regarding Iran’s nuclear program remains only political and diplomatic. In this respect, the Russian Federation will continue its own efforts in this direction. In particular, here in Vienna venues, the former JCPOA participants, namely permanent representatives representing the UK, Iran, China, the US, Germany and the EU, will hold an emergency consultation on Thursday, September 11th, with the aim of finding possible solutions to prevent further escalation and an inevitable crisis. Of course, this does not rule out the possibility of continuing work through other channels, but it has not yet produced any concrete results.
We welcome the agreement reached in Cairo by the IAEA Director-General and the Iranian Foreign Minister on Modalities to resume agency verification activities in the Islamic Republic of Iran. This is a very important outcome. It demonstrates the high professionalism and responsibility of both parties. Tehran showed particularly high responsibility in this case, indicating that after a series of strikes on its territory, European participants of the JCPOA agreed to the contract even after launching a “snapback” mechanism at the UN Security Council. This approach supports Iran’s solid commitment to fulfilling its international obligations. However, unlike the IAEA and Iran, the outlook for the full implementation of the contract is still unknown due to the destructive steps of the UK, Germany and France. This shows no interest in diplomacy and dialogue.
MNA