 |
Untitled Document Daily Press Briefing, on Russia-Iran Nuclear Cooperation (excerpted) Richard Boucher Department of State November 26, 2003
[…]
QUESTION: Yes. It's about Iran and its nuclear program. Now that an agreement has been reached in Vienna regarding the Iranian nuclear program, are you going to continue to press the Russians to stop their nuclear cooperation with Iran for the Bushehr nuclear facility?
MR. BOUCHER: Well, first let me say how pleased we are with the outcome in Vienna, that we were able to work out an agreement that was adopted today without a vote, meaning by all the members of the Board of Governors. We think it's an appropriate and effective resolution.
It reflects strong concerns among the Board about Iran's past non-compliance; it reflects the international community's commitment to preserving and strengthening the nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty; and it makes clear that we need full Iranian cooperation with the agency. Iran has been put on notice, and should there be any new information that comes to light or inaccuracies that come to light, then the Board would take up the issue again and take appropriate action under the charter and the safeguards.
In sum, this resolution puts a requirement on Iran to cooperate in all the ways that it's promised and all the ways demanded by the Board of Governors. That would mean that governments who have programs or who have had programs with Iran would only want to cooperate within those guidelines. And I think you can check with the Russian Government on how they will handle that situation as Iran is implementing its promises.
[…]
QUESTION: Can I go back to that Russia-Bushehr question, because I think you came close to saying that as long as this cooperation stayed within the guidelines, then you would no longer have any objections and that it could go ahead, right? Is that -- is that what you mean? That now that there's a framework --
MR. BOUCHER: No, I didn't say that.
QUESTION: No?
MR. BOUCHER: I said they would have to decide how to handle their cooperation during this particular period to see, while we're waiting to see whether Iran carries out its promises or not.
As you know, Iran has talked about signing the additional protocols, and I think did so again today, but I'm not aware that they have actually signed and implemented them yet. Iran has talked about suspending enrichment programs and allowing visits and verification. Some of that may have happened, some of that not. So all the countries that may have programs one kind or another with Iran are going to have to consider how they proceed in this immediate period.
QUESTION: Yes.
MR. BOUCHER: And Iran would --
QUESTION: Well, no doubt they would decide how to proceed, but do you -- do you have a view on how they should proceed?
MR. BOUCHER: Our view is people ought to be careful, continue to be careful about their programs, particularly at this moment, when Iran has not yet implemented all its commitments.
QUESTION: Well, okay. But that's not the same as saying that they should stop their cooperation.
MR. BOUCHER: We've never said they should stop the reactor cooperation. We've said that other aspects of cooperation with Iran should not be carried out, and that peaceful reactor construction should proceed only if Iran was meeting all the requirements of the international community to satisfy the international community that Iran was not conducting weapons programs on the side.
[…]
|
|
|
|
