Topnews, Statements

16. Juni 2020

STATEMENT DELIVERED BY AMBASSADOR RAPULANE MOLEKANE, RESIDENT REPRESENTATIVE/GOVERNOR OF THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA, AT THE IAEA BOARD OF GOVERNORS, 16 JUNE 2020, VIENNA, AUSTRIA

AGENDA ITEM 5: VERIFICATION AND MONITORING IN THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN IN LIGHT OF UNITED NATIONS SECURITY COUNCIL RESOLUTION 2231 (2015)

Madame Chair

South Africa has taken note with concern of the latest report on the JCPOA.  Like others, we are concerned that, since the withdrawal by one Party, Iran’s obligations under the JCPOA are no longer being implemented fully.

As stated so many times before, the JCPOA remains central to the global non-proliferation architecture, and that this agreement has suffered immense damage when one of the State Parties to the agreement withdrew without justification and subsequently also started to implement stringent measures aimed at undermining the Agreement.  In our view, this action has destroyed the balance of the agreement, which is crucial for its effective implementation. 

This balance between stringent limitations and verification on Iran’s nuclear programme and economic benefits leading to the eventual reintegration of Iran into the global economy was the central tenant of the Agreement.  The destruction of the economic benefits foreseen by the agreement has resulted in the eventual breach of all the restrictions on Iran’s nuclear programme, which the report before us clearly illustrates.

Whilst the withdrawal of the United States was a significant blow to the Agreement, South Africa again calls on all remaining parties to fulfil their obligations under the JCPOA with the aim of restoring some of the balance of the agreement. In this regard, we call upon Iran to return to full compliance. The European Union’s lacklustre attitude is regretted and we call upon the EU to fulfil all its obligations under the Agreement.

Another area of concern for South Africa is the fact that the JCPOA report, as well as the report on the NPT Safeguards in Iran, were once again leaked to the media at the same time that they were released to the Board of Governors. South Africa is of the view that these leaks undermine the role of the Board in these critical issues.  We therefore wish to again call on the Secretariat and Member States to wait until after the Board of Governors had discussed the report before releasing the text to the media.

In closing, we thank the IAEA for its professional and impartial work with regard to the JCPOA and reiterate South Africa’s support for the JCPOA and the very important work the IAEA does in this regard.

I thank you

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