24/10/2003
Europe and Iran reach agreement

The agreement reached this week by the foreign ministers of Germany, the United Kingdom and France begins a process for resolving the nuclear proliferation crisis with Iran

The three ministers obtained three commitments from Iran. The Islamic Republic had already received requests for these in a joint letter handed to Teheran on August 6. The commitments that Iran has agree to are those which the international community expected and which were formulated in the AIEA Board of Governors resolution on September 12. They are:

- full cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency,

- signing of the Additional Protocol to its safeguards agreement with the IAEA, its implementation, and immediate commencement of ratification procedures;

- the suspension of all uranium enrichment and reprocessing activities.

These three commitments have particular importance for the preparation of the next AIEA board meeting on November 20. The director general will present a report at the beginning of November on the implementation of these various points.

In addition dialogue will be continuing with Iran and other partners in the international community on the other issues. In particular, Iran’s development of its nuclear energy program and stability and security in the region.

These results are very positive. The agreement ends the logic that could have led to confrontation. The Europeans played their part to the full in accordance with their principles. This is an important stage in restoring confidence between Iran and the international community. It is now necessary to make sure these commitments are followed through.