Iran Press/ Europe: Iran’s Ambassador to IAEA and Permanent Representative to the Vienna-based International Organizations, Kazem Gharibabadi, during his speech at the IAEA Board of Governors on the subject of Verification and Monitoring in the Islamic Republic of Iran in light of United Nations Security Council resolution 2231 (2015), explained the positions of the Islamic Republic of Iran on Thursday.
He said: "Iran does not deem any value on unfounded and demagogic noises and claims by the US and Israeli regime. Their primary purpose is to put pressure on the Agency and other member states to question Iran's nuclear commitments."
Referring to Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi’s new report on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) Gharibabadi added that the reports on this agenda during the past five years are a good testament to the level of cooperation between Iran and the Agency.
He went on to say that the DG’s reports confirm that “Since 16 January 2016 (JCPOA Implementation Day), the Agency has verified and monitored Iran’s implementation of its nuclear-related commitments under the modalities set out in the JCPOA…"
"It means that the Agency was even able to verify and monitor Iran’s steps under paragraphs 26 and 36 of the Deal. The reports even confirm that the Agency has not observed any change in Iran’s level of cooperation. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact, the Agency has continued to maintain its smooth verification and monitoring activities in Iran," Gharibabadi added.
He further stressed that the DG’s reports should be seen in their proper contexts and stated that the JCPOA is a concrete, highly elaborated deal composed of balanced commitments made by its participants, and like any other deals, it is supposed to benefit its participants.
The ambassador noted that with the persistent United States irresponsible conduct, by adopting malign policies and imposing unlawful unilateral sanctions, the deal has lost its balance of commitments, leading to the loss of Iran's perceived benefits.
Therefore, while Iran is entitled to take remedial measures, the US shall bear full responsibility for the consequences of its wrongful acts in apparent contradiction with the Charter of the United Nations and the provisions of the Security Council Resolution 2231 (2015), he explained.
Gharibabadi pointed out that in the past five years, the Board of Governors has witnessed many statements elaborating on the values and advantages of the JCPOA for the non-proliferation regime. "Still, one shouldn’t ignore the fact that the deal includes other essential categories of commitments, namely lifting the sanctions and its effects."
He added that as it is envisaged in the Nuclear Deal, “the JCPOA addresses the E3/EU+3’s concerns, including through comprehensive measures providing for transparency and verification. The JCPOA will produce the comprehensive lifting of all UN Security Council sanctions as well as multilateral and national sanctions related to Iran’s nuclear program, including steps on access in areas of trade, technology, finance, and energy.”
The ambassador further addressed the root of the problems surrounding JCPOA and stated that although the US Administration didn’t abide by its obligations ultimately, the situation was aggravated when the US Administration announced its unilateral withdrawal from the JCPOA on 8 May 2018.
That very announcement and the subsequent coercive measures taken by the US Administration and lack of full and effective implementation of the commitments by EU/E3 members enshrined in the JCPOA to remedy the situation have brought about severe challenges to the Deal, he explained.
While the Deal was effectively and fully implemented by Iran and managed to create exemplary cooperation between Iran and the Agency, it was not implemented on the sanctions lifting side, especially during the past two and a half years, he highlighted.
Gharibabadi also expressed that, unfortunately, the EU/E3 didn’t fulfill its sanctions-related commitments and commitments related to Iran’s civil nuclear cooperation in this period. Hence, calling on Iran to fully implement its obligations while knowing that Iran’s legitimate benefits from the Deal have not been realized is neither reasonable nor a practical approach.
He explained that there is no way to justify the illegal US withdrawal and the imposition of sanctions as well as its subsequent acts and the other party’s inaction to remedy the situation; therefore, overstating the levels of which Iran has gone beyond the JCPOA limits, aggrandizing Iran's R & D activities, and expressing concerns in this regard, can only be considered as endeavors to shoulder off the responsibilities of non-implementation of their commitments during past two and half years.
The ambassador highlighted that if some are concerned with the current level of activities, this has nothing to do with Iran and its exclusively peaceful nuclear program, so they are strongly recommended to implement their commitments under the Deal and the UN Security Council Resolution 2231 (2015) to bring this derailed train to its proper track.
The JCPOA can only be saved through joint efforts and actions to ensure that the rights and obligations therein are fully materialized, he said.
"We welcome the fact that as a result of constructive engagement between Iran and the Agency, providing complimentary access is no longer an issue between Iran and the Agency."
"In the same spirit, we believe that on the issue of the results of the Agency's visit to a location in Iran in early 2019, the report itself testifies the extent of cooperation between Iran and the Agency."
Afterward, in September 2020, the Agency, after eight months of taking samples, informed Iran of its preliminary assessment of Iran's responses and shared with us a totally new finding for clarification, he noted.
Additionally, on 5 November 2020, Iran provided the Agency with more clarification related to the matter. As it seems to be familiar to have the analysis of the samples by the Laboratories with delays due to the situation, even for almost eight months, which we also quite understand, it also should not be seen abnormal for Iran to require reasonable time to investigate on the issues raised by the Agency in September this year, only two and a half months ago. It should be stressed that under the provisions of the JCPOA, Iran is provisionally and voluntarily implementing the Additional Protocol; therefore, providing the Agency with the requested access was done in good-will, and this should be seen as a foundation to resolve the issue, meaning a beginning for an end, Gharibabadi said.
Thus, expressing concerns or setting artificial deadlines without considering the context within which we are in is counterproductive and will damage the existing good-will, he explained.
It is noteworthy that despite the different understanding of technical matters between the two sides, interactions are still ongoing to finalize the matter’s resolution; hence any hasty comments and conclusions should be avoided, he concluded.
The US delegation was quoted that Iran should be exposed to a robust and the same high standards for verification as others. What kind of measures are they referring to?! the ambassador pointed.
Indeed, such a country is not even entitled to talk about no-proliferation concerns. On the same line, the Israeli regime is the only one in the Middle East which is not a member of any of the Weapons of Mass-Destruction instruments and developed various types of such weapons. How much the US is concerned about this threatening situation? he said.
However, the Islamic Republic of Iran does not deem any value on the US and the Israeli regime’s unfounded and demagogic noises and claims. Their primary purpose is to put pressure on and divert the Agency and the Member States to achieve their political interests.
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