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Topnews, Statements

16. November 2022

STATEMENT DELIVERED BY AMBASSADOR RAPULANE MOLEKANE, GOVERNOR/RESIDENT REPRESENTATIVE OF THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA, AT THE IAEA BOARD OF GOVERNORS, 16 NOVEMBER 2022, VIENNA, AUSTRIA

AGENDA ITEM 4: VERIFICATION AND MONITORING IN THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN IN LIGHT OF UN SECURITY COUNCIL RESOLUTION 2231 (2015)

Mr Chairperson

South Africa wishes to thank the Director General and the Secretariat for the Reports before us and the detailed technical briefing provided to Members States.

My delegation has consistently declared its support for the JCPOA as a key instrument of the global non-proliferation regime and thus central to the maintenance of international peace and security. We reiterate our regret at the unilateral withdrawal of the United States from the agreement and its imposition of the punishing and unfair sanctions on Iran. This single and unreasonable act by the United States has plunged us into the crisis we are in today in relation to the JCPOA. We also regret the gradual withdrawal of Iran from implementation of its obligations to the JCPOA, almost a year after the withdrawal of the US from the agreement. Iran was not realising the promise of being reintegrated into the global economy which was to be accrued from its signature of the JCPOA.

Chairperson

We are deeply concerned by the lack of progress on measures to restore the deal, while we had been informed by the negotiating parties in March that they were close to an agreement. Regrettably, not only have parties to the agreement not met in the intervening period, but there has been consistent apportioning of blame by one party to another. We urge the negotiating parties to resist the temptation to subject the restoration of the deal to narrow political interests or use the deal as an object of geopolitical posturing. We further call on parties to the JCPOA to exert all efforts towards the restoration of the JCPOA.

The report of the Director General before us, reflects that Iran has continued to enrich uranium to levels that we consider to be neither justifiable nor qualifying to be a balancing measure. The production of Highly Enriched Uranium that has no justifiable peaceful uses and is not consistent to Iran’s declared long-term research and development objectives, is a course of deep concern for my delegation.  Regrettably these activities are undertaken at a time where Iran has significantly curtailed the ability of the IAEA to monitor its nuclear programme and have unliterally suspended its application of Modified Code 3.1. We therefore call on Iran to restore confidence to the international community on the nobility of their nuclear programme. We also call on Iran to return to compliance to its legal obligations while pursuing meaningful negotiations towards the restoration of the JCPOA.

We reiterate our call to both the United States and Iran to take confidence-building measures, such as the suspension of some sanctions and the suspension of the production of HEU, respectively.

In conclusion, while my delegation appreciates the good work of the Secretariat in preparing reports, their attempts to include all the latest developments result in the late release of reports which hinders the ability of Member States to prepare timely for meetings of the Board. We therefore urge parties to the JCPOA to refrain from delaying engagements to closer to the meeting of the Board which negatively affect the timing of the release of the reports of the Director General. We urge the Director General to release reports at least two weeks in advance of future meetings of the Board.

With these few words I thank you Chairperson.

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