Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the statement by the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Director General on 3 March 2022, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of his statement that the IAEA will never abandon its investigation into the previous presence of nuclear material at several undeclared sites in Iran.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General announced on 5 March that Iran and the IAEA had agreed a process for engagement on the Agency's ongoing investigation into outstanding safeguards issues in Iran. The UK fully supports the IAEA's efforts to independently monitor, investigate and report on Iran's nuclear activity. The UK has consistently urged Iran to cooperate with the IAEA on this investigation. At the IAEA Board of Governor's meeting in March 2022, the UK issued a joint statement with France and Germany reinforcing that Iran is legally obliged to cooperate with the IAEA by providing technically credible information, documentation and answers to questions requested by the IAEA. It is only through Iran's substantive cooperation with the IAEA that these issues can be clarified and resolved.