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Iran Signs Additional Protocol
on Nuclear Safeguards
Signing Ceremony Takes Place at IAEA
18 December 2003
On 18 December 2003, Ambassador Salehi of Iran and the Director
General of the IAEA signed an Additional Protocol to Iran's NPT
safeguards agreement, granting Agency inspectors greater authority
in verifying the country's nuclear programme. Iran has stated that
it is acting in accordance with the Protocol's provisions, pending
the Protocol's formal entry into force. The Additional Protocol
requires States to provide an expanded declaration of their nuclear
activities and grants the Agency broader rights of access to sites
in the country.
Since February 2003, the IAEA has been heavily engaged in the verification
of the Iranian programme and its history. As IAEA Director General
Mohamed ElBaradei reported to the Agency's Board in November 2003,
the IAEA's ability to reach a conclusion on the nature of Iran's
nuclear programme and the correctness and completeness of Iran's
declaration of its nuclear activities will very much depend on the
Agency being allowed by Iran to implement in full the verification
measures provided for in the safeguards agreement and the Additional
Protocol that Iran has now concluded with the IAEA - and on Iran's
pursuing a policy of full transparency and co-operation.
In his report to the Board at that time, Dr. ElBaradei stated that
"Iran has committed itself to a policy of full disclosure and
has decided, as a confidence building measure, not only to sign
the Additional Protocol, making way for more robust and comprehensive
inspections, but also to take the important step of suspending all
enrichment related and reprocessing activities and to accept IAEA
verification of this suspension. These are positive and welcome
steps which I very much hope will be sustained."
The Director General is scheduled to provide his next report, on
the implementation of Agency safeguards in Iran, to the IAEA Board
of Governors in February 2004, prior to the Board's next meeting
in March.
See IAEA website
for more information
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