Statement by Permanent Representative Vassily Nebenzia at UNSC briefing under agenda item "Non-proliferation"
Mme. President,
Russia stood at the origins of the negotiations process that led up to the signing of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), a unique achievement of multilateral diplomacy. We are very worried for the fate of this deal.
We regret that at this critical moment in terms of JCPOA’s future prospects, the British Presidency of the Security Council, instead of delivering on its duties objectively, abuses its powers in the interests of Great Britain’s own political agenda, which threatens to undermine the already fragile discussion around the JCPOA. The Presidency violated the longstanding practice by inviting the delegation of Ukraine, which is not a party to the nuclear deal, to participate in this meeting. This was a politicized provocative step that was aimed to undermine a constructive discussion of resolution 2231 in the Council. This is another stain on London’s reputation as President of the Security Council.
We thank USG DiCarlo for the briefing. We were surprised by the remarks of Mr.Olof Skoog, Head of the EU delegation, which were not directly connected to the subject matter of this meeting. This is not what a coordinator is supposed to do. Apparently, the EU Ambassador forgot that he was speaking in his capacity as coordinator of the JCPOA Joint Commission rather than a representative of Brussels. We regret that the European Union in fact gives up its reputation is a fair broker in processes relating to the JCPOA – for pursuit of its own political agenda.
We thank UNSC Facilitator for the implementation of resolution 2231, Ambassador Vanessa Frazier of Malta, whom we congratulate on assuming this duty and wish every success in the crucial matter of supporting Format 2231. We think that consensual adoption of the 6-months report of the 2231 Facilitator last week signified a successful start of Malta’s work in this capacity.
However we must note that the new Facilitator followed in the footprints of the previous one and did not cite in their statement the well-known root cause of all problems with the implementation of the JCPOA, namely the unilateral withdrawal of the United states from the deal back in 2018 and imposing of unilateral sanctions against Iran. In their statement, the Facilitator only made a call to the sides of the deal, which does not include Washington, to uphold the agreement. We regret that the Secretary-General too abstains from reflecting this objective fact in his six-months reports. Besides, we remind that exemptions from the US sanctions that the report refers to are not enough. All discriminatory illegitimate measures that Washington imposed on Tehran in violation of UNSC resolution 2231 must be lifted completely, on a permanent verifiable basis. At the same time, the SG’s report does put all accents in the right places. There is a call to the United States to adopt measures to reconsider the unilateral restrictions that were imposed previously; and this call precedes a call to Iran to take no steps deviating from the JCPOA. No one, leaders of the UN Secretariat included, have any illusions as to who bears the main responsibility for thwarting the implementation of 2231. It is hard to ignore the fact that all Tehran’s steps were nothing more than a response to the steps of the United States.
It appears rather perplexing that UNSG’s report again makes references to the UN Secretariat “examining the available information” and intending to report to the Security Council its alleged “findings” regarding so-called “violations” of paras. 3 and 4 of Annex B to resolution 2231. We must stress again that Team 2231 is not authorized to take such action. Functions of the UN Secretariat as regards this resolution are of a purely administrative and technical nature. They are clearly stipulated in Note S/2016/44 of the President of the Security Council dated 16 January 2016. My country has already shared with the Council a detailed legal analysis of this matter. We call on the Secretariat to stick to its duties and keep from making any uncoordinated visits or conducting voluntary “inquiries” upon an “invitation” of certain states in violation of Article 100 of the UN Charter. We will view any such unauthorized action not only as a violation of the UN Charter, but also as a deliberate provocation aimed at undermining integrity of UNSC decisions. The Secretary-General is well aware of our position on this matter.
At the same time, it is positive that the Secretary-General still believes the JCPOA to be the best way to ensure a fully peaceful character of the Iranian nuclear program. We welcome that the report highlighted the fact that Iran and IAEA engaged meaningfully to deliver on the joint statement (made in March) and resolve the outstanding issues.
Mme.President,
Today as never before, it is crucial for us to be mindful that almost 8 years ago the signing of the JCPOA was a breakthrough of global diplomacy. Political will of states-parties to this process and their pragmatic efforts made it possible to ensure unprecedented transparency of nuclear activities in Iran and lift all questions that IAEA had to Tehran.
Unfortunately, one former participant of the process, the United States, tried to wipe out this shared achievement by withdrawing unilaterally from the JCPOA in 2018. Since that moment, we have seen no real steps by Washington towards re-entering the deal. I wonder if the representative of the United States, who dedicated his entire statement today to the issue of drones and missiles, has anything to say to the point of this meeting? The cause of all problems around the JCPOA did not have anything to say about the JCPOA itself. For instance, he could have shed some light whether the US is going to re-join the deal that it tried to ruin back in 2018. Apparently, the ardor and fervor of the American representative was intended, among other things, to divert attention from the endless flow of weapons supplied by Washington to the Kiev regime.
A comprehensive decision of the JCPOA Joint Commission, which is called to revitalize the Plan in a relatively short term, has been long drafted. Back in December 2022, Tehran officially claimed ready to make an agreement for recovery on the basis of this decision. But despite all this, the actions of the United States and European members of the JCPOA caused the talks in Vienna to stall. Besides, these states started to sabotage the process and tried to pretend that Iran be responsible for this situation.
In particular, some of those states cherry-picked facts from the overall context to promote their political agenda, for example, by distorting the situation around the IAEA-Iran interaction. Our Western colleagues continue to speculate about the discovery of uranium enriched up to 83.7 % at one of Iranian facilities. What they prefer not to mention is that reports of the Secretary-General, 2231 Facilitator, and IAEA Director-General clearly say that this issue has been resolved. We strongly reject any such attempts to manipulate objective data, and equally all attempts to dispute Iran’s right to explore and develop atoms for peace under the IAEA supervision. We are very interested in a calm and trustful development of relations between Iran and the Agency. International community receives all facts regarding the state of Iran’s nuclear program exactly from the reports of the Director-General of the IAEA. As soon as full-fledged implementation of the JCPOA resumes, the Additional Protocol to the Safeguards Agreement will be in effect again. All responsible states should facilitate rather than impede this process.
Another notorious case of “inflating” a sense of unrest in the information space was presented by the attempts to implicate Iran for violating paras. 3 and 4 of Annex B to resolution 2231. Both Iran and Russia repeatedly responded to many letters of similar content that were circulated in the Security Council. Authors of those letters provide no irrefutable evidence to back those allegations. All we see is “suspicions” and incomprehensible “assessments” that rest upon “open-source data”. In this connection, the insinuations about so-called Iranian drones that are allegedly used in Ukraine provide a very telling example.
Some visual evidence that is offered to back up these insinuations is simply ridiculous. Lately, mass media spread a photo of V.Zelensky standing next to what is said to be a Shahed drone. This drone is three meters long and has a wingspan of 2 meters. It suggests that the President of Ukraine should be approximately 2.5 meters tall. This photo is a fake that web users made laugh of long ago.
Other “material evidence” that is provided consists of indistinct photos of some debris, where nothing would point at their Iranian origin. But what can we talk about at all if the language of communications and materials in question clearly indicates that the authors themselves were not sure if their conclusions were sufficiently well-grounded? They use such words and phrases that should free London of any responsibility for verifying the data that is submitted to the Security Council. For example, there is reference to some “initial assessments”. This means that the British side never even concluded the “examination” of the alleged drones.
Such allegations are being spread for a reason, which is to add negative to the reports of the Secretary-General and Facilitator 2231 in the absence of objective facts, and divert attention from violations of resolution 2231 by Western members of the JCPOA and the United States.
We are particularly concerned that in their escalation-oriented narrative, some Western states not only show no interest in negotiating to recover the JCPOA, but also take explicit attempts to blackmail Tehran and threaten to adopt anti-Iranian steps in the Security Council. For example, they may talk of reinstating provisions of prior UNSC resolutions as regards Iran – the so-called snapback. We would like to underscore that there are neither legal nor procedural grounds for doing so. We warn our Western colleagues (who should first adopt some measures themselves to ensure full implementation of the JCPOA) against any dangerous steps that run counter to the position of the Secretary-General and the majority of UNSC member states about the importance of safeguarding the deal.
We are no less concerned over the publications in Western media that Great Britain and two European states may plan to readdress the expiration (due in October) of “missile” restrictions against Iran that stem from paras. 3 and 4 of Annex B. We strongly call on the colleagues to be wise and strictly observe their international obligations as provided for by Article 25 of the Charter of the United Nations. The illegal national decisions of individual countries, dictated by purely opportunistic considerations, cannot trigger legal consequences for other states. We resolutely condemn the vicious practice of the extraterritorial application of unilateral sanctions, which is one of the clearest manifestations of the so-called rules-based order that has nothing to do with international law.
Mme.President,
Let me reiterate our general position. Russia is strongly convinced that there is no alternative to the JCPOA. Swift recovery of the Plan is the only right way to meet both regional and global security interests.
We all know perfectly well whose “move” is due now. Tehran is truly interested in reanimating the JCPOA. But our Western colleagues do not seem ready to embark on the same path. It would be a pity is a chance to revive the deal is wasted because of them.
We hope that the Secretary-General will send a clear signal to the United States and European parties to the JCPOA about the need to agree on a recovery package and move over to implementing it in practical terms. Russia is ready to continue with joint efforts at this track. We do hope that the leadership of the UN Secretariat recognizes the importance of keeping the reports they issue well-balanced and objective. All steps and statements need to be thoroughly considered, unbiased, and supportive of multilateral efforts that are aimed at recovering the JCPOA.
Thank you.
