Chris Patten

No. 83/03
December 18, 2003

The European Commission warmly welcomes today's signature by Iran of the Additional Protocol to the 1986 Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). The signature of the Additional Protocol (AP) constitutes an important step towards Iran's full and prompt compliance with its international obligations under the non-proliferation regime. 

Commissioner Patten said, "The signature of the Additional Protocol (AP) today is good news as it will help in establishing the international community's confidence in Iran's assurance about the peaceful nature of its nuclear programme and its commitment to non-proliferation. Rapid ratification and implementation pending the entry into force of the AP is now essential to provide full transparency on the Iranian nuclear programme."  

Background

In 1970, Iran ratified the Non-Proliferation Treaty. For the last 20 years, the Islamic Republic had conducted a civilian nuclear programme. Following several inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), on 10 November, Dr. El Baradei, General Director of the IAEA, released a report on Iran's implementation of the NPT Safeguards Agreement. The report stated that Iran had concealed numerous aspects of its nuclear programme and had then failed to meet a number of obligations under the Safeguards Agreement. However, the IAEA also emphasised and welcomed the new Iranian willingness to cooperate on nuclear issues in order to achieve a total transparency.  

On 8 December, the Council of Ministers discussed EU's relations with Iran in light of the IAEA report and the 26 November IAEA Board of Governors meeting. The Council fully supported the AIEA Board of Governors' resolution and welcomed Iran's commitment to comply fully and promptly with its requirements, including the immediate implementation pending the entry into force of an Additional Protocol to its safeguard arrangements and the suspension of all enrichment-related and reprocessing activities agreed with the Foreign Ministers of France, Germany and United Kingdom on 21 October.  

The Council reiterated the EU's readiness to explore ways to develop wider political and economic cooperation with Iran and stated that this could only be achieved through full international confidence in Iran's adherence to non-proliferation and, in particular, in the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear programme, as well as improvements in the areas of human rights, fight against terrorism and Iran's position on the Middle East Peace Process.

The ratification of the Additional Protocol will provide the IAEA new means to verify independently the declarations made by Iran about its nuclear material and activities such as unrestricted access to all the reported nuclear facilities and to all the necessary information.