S/PV.6344 Security Council

This is the fourteenth 90-day report in accordance with paragraph 18 (h) of resolution 1737 (2006). The report covers the period from 5 March to 28 June 2010, during which time the Committee held no meetings but conducted its work using the silence procedure. At the outset, I would like to recall that, less than three weeks ago, by its resolution 1929 (2010), of 9 June, the Security Council adopted additional measures relating to the Islamic Republic of Iran. As outlined in the resolution, the Council decided that the mandate of the Committee shall also apply to the measures decided in resolution 1929 (2010) and that the Committee shall intensify its efforts to promote the full implementation of resolutions 1737 (2006), 1747 (2007), 1803 (2008) and 1929 (2010), including through a work programme to be submitted to the Council within 45 days of the adoption of resolution 1929 (2010) — that is, by 24 July 2010. The Council also established, for an initial period of one year and under the direction of the Committee, a panel of experts to carry out certain tasks, as specified. The Committee stands ready to carry out the tasks that the Council has assigned to it in this resolution. During the reporting period, the Committee responded to a written request for guidance from a Member State in connection with the disposal of arms- related materiel found onboard the vessel M/V Hansa India that was being transferred in violation of paragraph 5 of resolution 1747 (2007). I wish to note here that, in paragraph 16 of resolution 1929 (2010), the Council further outlined the responsibilities of States should they be faced with a similar situation and clarified that they are both authorized and obligated to seize and dispose of items being supplied, sold, transferred or exported in violation of the relevant resolutions on Iran. The Committee also received further information from another Member State on the activities of the M/V Francop. Members will recall that, in my two preceding reports, I informed the Council of the reports of arms-related materiel found onboard both vessels in violation of paragraph 5 of resolution 1747 (2007) and of the action taken by the Committee as a result. The Committee received one notification from a Member State with reference to paragraph 5 of resolution 1737 (2006), concerning the delivery of items for use in the nuclear power plant in Bushehr, Iran. The Committee is also considering a letter that it received from a Member State about an intended delivery of items for use in that plant. The Committee received additional specific information on a prior general notification that had been submitted by a Member State pursuant to paragraph 15 of resolution 1737 (2006), in connection with the unfreezing of funds to make payments due under contracts entered into prior to the listing of an entity. Furthermore, a communication was received from a Member State providing additional information on an individual whose name had previously been provided to the Committee by another Member State in accordance with the requirement for vigilance in relation to travel, due to its similarity with the name of a designated individual. On the basis of the additional information, it was confirmed that the person whose name was initially provided was not the same person as the one designated by the Council. The Committee will be responding to a query from a Member State seeking confirmation that certain individuals and entities have not been designated either by the Council or by the Committee as subject to the travel ban and/or assets freeze. Finally, with regard to reporting by States on the implementation of all relevant measures set out in resolutions 1737 (2006), 1747 (2007) and 1803 (2008), the figures are: 92 reports under resolution 1737 (2006), 79 reports under resolution 1747 (2007) and 68 reports under resolution 1803 (2008). The Committee expects to receive implementation reports pursuant to paragraph 31 of resolution 1929 (2010) in the coming days, and strongly encourages all Member States to submit those reports within the requested time frame.

I thank Ambassador Takasu for his briefing. I shall now give the floor to the members of the Council who would like to make statements.

I thank Ambassador Takasu for his briefing today. Less than three weeks ago, the Council sent a strong message about Iran’s nuclear programme. The adoption of resolution 1929 (2010) reaffirms that the Council will respond decisively to serious threats to international peace and security. That resolution imposed tough, comprehensive new sanctions on Iran. These sanctions reinforced the determination not only of the United States but of the international community to hold Iran to its international obligations and to prevent it from developing nuclear weapons. The Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1737 (2006) plays a critical role in monitoring and improving the enforcement of the Security Council’s resolutions. The Committee is our principal mechanism for helping States fulfil their obligations to implement these measures, as well as for responding effectively when States violate international law and fail to enforce United Nations sanctions. In resolution 1929 (2010), the Council expressed its desire to strengthen that Committee and to ensure that it has the tools it needs to be effective. The Council specifically directed the Committee to intensify its efforts to promote the full implementation of all Iran-related resolutions through a work plan. We encourage Ambassador Takasu to personally engage with the Committee to set out an ambitious agenda in that work programme. An active and effective Committee will reinforce respect for the rule of law internationally. It can also show the potential of multilateral mechanisms to tackle urgent proliferation threats. We also encourage the Committee and the Secretariat to work together to establish the newly created panel of experts. When fully established, the panel will be our eyes and ears in the field. In line with its mandate, the panel will help States to fully implement the measures set forth in each of the resolutions on Iran, and it will help the Committee examine and analyse information about sanctions violations. The United States hopes that the panel can be operational by the end of this summer. But the effectiveness of the Iran sanctions regime is primarily the responsibility of each and every Member State, which are obligated to carry out the Council’s decision. The United States has already taken steps to implement our obligations under this resolution, as have other Member States. All States must do their part to ensure rapid, effective and robust implementation. Such action will send an unmistakable message to Iran’s leaders and directly support negotiating efforts. The United States remains committed to pursuing a diplomatic solution and the dual-track strategy on Iran. As the Foreign Ministers of the countries of the five plus one group made clear in their statement following the adoption of resolution 1929 (2010), we remain ready to engage with Iran to address our concerns. We continue to acknowledge Iran’s right to pursue peaceful civilian nuclear power, but with that right comes the real responsibility to assure the rest of the world of the exclusively peaceful nature of Iran’s intentions. Our goal remains to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. We will continue working closely with our partners in this Council and the international community towards that goal. As President Obama has said, Iran can choose to address these concerns and build a more prosperous relationship with the international community based on mutual interests and mutual respect, but if the Iranian Government continues to undermine the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and the peace that it protects, Iran will only find itself more isolated, less prosperous and less secure.

I should like to start by thanking Ambassador Takasu for his briefing this afternoon. His Committee’s work is of critical importance as we pursue the dual-track strategy to resolve the Iranian nuclear issue. It has only become more so following the adoption of resolution 1929 (2010). The measures imposed by resolution 1929 (2010) are targeted, proportionate and reversible. If the dual- track strategy is to succeed, Member States will need to ensure the full, effective and rigorous implementation of these measures and those in the Council’s previous resolutions. The Committee established pursuant to resolution 1737 (2006) will have a key role in monitoring, implementation and advising States, where necessary. The work programme that resolution 1929 (2010) tasks the Committee to submit to the Council by 24 July will need to address those measures. It will be the most ambitious work programme yet. The contribution of the panel of experts will be essential to the effective delivery of that work programme. We urge the Committee and the Secretariat to make every effort to operationalize the panel as soon as possible. The most recent report of the International Atomic Energy Agency makes clear why these additional measures were necessary. It states that Iran has suspended neither its enrichment-related activities nor work on its heavy water-related projects. This is a clear defiance of successive Security Council resolutions. The report states that Iran has produced 5.7 kilograms of low-enriched uranium, enriched at just under 20 per cent. This is a significant step towards the ability to enrich to weapons-grade levels. Iran has no credible civilian application for such enriched uranium. The report makes clear that, in the case of the facility at Qom, Iran did not notify the Agency in a timely manner of its decision to construct the site and that this is inconsistent with Iran’s obligations under its safeguards agreement. The report states that Iran has not discussed possible military dimensions of its programme with the Agency since August 2008. The Agency therefore remains concerned about the possible existence in Iran of past or current undisclosed nuclear-related activities involving military-related organizations, including activities relating to the development of a payload for a missile. The report concludes that Iran has not provided the cooperation necessary to permit the Agency to confirm that all nuclear material in Iran is in peaceful activities. We remain ready to resume the talks on Iran’s nuclear programme that we started in Geneva in October. Baroness Ashton, the European Union’s High Representative, is pursuing that with Mr. Saeed Jalili, the Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council. Such talks can lead to a solution if they are purposeful, address both sides’ concerns and make swift progress. In again extending our hand, we show our determination to resolve these matters through dialogue and diplomacy. This stands in stark contrast to Iran’s repeated refusals to discuss its nuclear programme. We remain equally determined to continue to respond robustly to Iran’s refusal to comply with its international obligations.

I should first like to thank Ambassador Takasu for his 90-day report, his management of the Committee established pursuant to resolution 1737 (2006), the high quality of his work in the leadership of the Committee and the competence of his team. The general context is known to all. Iran has answered none of the questions that the international community has asked it; on the contrary, it has piled provocation upon provocation. These include in particular the discovery of a clandestine enrichment site at Qom and the launching of its 20 per cent enrichment programme. Iran refuses to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), continues to rebuff any serious negotiation, and engages only in delaying tactics. All of this led us to adopt resolution 1929 (2010). As we have often reiterated, the door to dialogue always remains open and we seek a diplomatic solution above all. We therefore express our strong desire for Iran to respond positively to the questions put to it by the IAEA and not to hinder its investigations. The latest report of the 1737 Committee shows that Member States take the implementation of resolutions concerning Iran very seriously. Such implementation will be even more pressing with respect to the imminent establishment of the panel of experts under resolution 1929 (2010). Today’s report highlights violations that should be investigated. We encourage all States to cooperate with the 1737 Committee and the panel of experts so that the investigations may take place in optimal conditions. More generally, we stress that each of us must fully implement the relevant resolutions, starting with resolution 1929 (2010), and that this is critical to ensuring the success of the dual-track strategy adopted and favoured by the international community.

We thank the Permanent Representative of Japan, Mr. Yukio Takasu, for his briefing on the work of the Committee established pursuant to resolution 1737 (2006), for his regular 90-day report, and for the work he has undertaken. We note that, during the reporting period, the Committee continued to act in strict compliance with its mandate. We expect the Committee’ programme of work, which we will have to adopt in the near future, will promote the effective implementation of tasks in that area. In the light of the Council’s adoption of resolution 1929 (2010), of even greater relevance is the further resolute work of the Committee in the spirit and letter of relevant Security Council resolutions to resolve the Iranian nuclear problem through exclusively political and diplomatic means. Of principal importance is that all States Members of the United Nations be guided by a similar approach. Strict compliance with restrictive measures under the Council’s resolutions requires Member States to refrain from taking additional restrictive steps not covered under those resolutions, especially those of an extraterritorial nature. We are concerned in that respect by the unacceptable prevention by third-party States of the delivery of supplies to Iran under the pretext that it is not in compliance with the domestic norms of those States. Such steps are not in line with the resolutions of the Security Council. Concerning the situation with respect to the Iranian nuclear programme, our position remains unchanged. We have consistently advocated the resolution of problems arising as a result of that programme through dialogue and cooperation with the Iranian side. The Russian approach has always been and always will be to engage in discussions to find diplomatic solutions to involving Tehran in joint work in close cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency. We call on Iran to take the steps necessary to rapidly resuming dialogue with the five plus one group with a view to resolving the situation concerning the Iranian nuclear programme through negotiations. We are convinced that such a settlement would be in keeping with the interests of the entire international community and of Iran itself.

At the outset, I should like to thank Ambassador Takasu for briefing the Council on the 90-day report of the Committee established pursuant to resolution 1737 (2006) and for his work since assuming the chairmanship of the Committee. China notes that the Committee has done effective work over the past 90 days, for which we express our appreciation. Not long ago, the Security Council adopted resolution 1929 (2010), its sixth on the Iranian nuclear issue since July 2006. Like the previous five resolutions, the new resolution reflects the international concern over the Iranian nuclear issue and the hope of all parties for a peaceful settlement of the matter through diplomatic negotiations. All countries have the obligation to implement the aforementioned resolution comprehensively and seriously. China has always supported the safeguarding of the non-proliferation regime and is opposed to the possession and development by Iran of nuclear weapons. We support the dual-track strategy to address the Iranian nuclear issue and have always strictly implemented our various obligations under the Security Council’s resolutions. At the same time, we believe that sanctions are not aimed at solving fundamental questions and should not be used to that end. A peaceful solution through diplomatic negotiations is the best option. As the Security Council adopted the new resolution, the foreign ministers of the five plus one group issued a joint statement reiterating their commitment to addressing the nuclear issue through diplomatic negotiations. Not long ago, Ms. Ashton, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, wrote to Mr. Jalili, Secretary of the Iranian Supreme National Security Council, reiterating her willingness to meet with Iran as soon as possible. At the same time, all parties continue to work actively to promote the implementation of the Tehran Research Reactor agreement signed by Brazil, Turkey and Iran. Iran has also expressed its willingness to negotiate with the international community and to cooperate with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). China hopes that all parties will seize this opportunity to resume talks on the basis of equality and mutual respect, to undertake further dialogue and engagement, and to carry out diplomatic efforts, especially outside the Security Council, to find a peaceful solution. We hope that Iran will continue to cooperate with the IAEA and to clarify and settle the problems so as to remove the doubts of the international community regarding its nuclear plans. China will actively participate in the work of the 1737 Committee, support and cooperate with the Chairman, and promote the constructive role of the Committee in appropriately addressing the Iranian nuclear issue.

There are no further speakers inscribed on my list. The Security Council has thus concluded the present stage of its consideration of the item on its agenda.