Resolution on the confrontation between Iran and the international community

The European Parliament adopted a resolution on the confrontation between Iran and the international community. It was responding both to public statements by President Ahmadinejad denying Israel's right to exist and the reality of the Holocaust, and to Iran’s decision to resume uranium-conversion activities at its Isfahan facility on 10 January 2006.

Parliament recalled that the IAEA resolution of 4 February 2006 referred to the "absence of confidence" in the peaceful purposes of Iran's nuclear programme and that the IAEA had reiterated its concern about the continuing gaps in its understanding of many proliferation-sensitive aspects of Iran's nuclear programme. The latter had also offered different solutions, including that of enriching uranium in Russia, but Iran failed to make clear its position on those proposals. On 30 January 2006, China, France, Germany, Russia, the UK and the US and the High Representative of the EU agreed that an extraordinary IAEA Board meeting should report to the UN Security Council, which would defer any action until after the IAEA Director General's report to the Board meeting of 6 March 2006 and any IAEA resolution adopted at that meeting. The Iranian government subsequently announced that it would cease all voluntary cooperation with the IAEA and that it would allow no further unannounced IAEA inspections on Iranian nuclear premises.

Parliament condemned President Ahmadinejad's threatening remarks against Israel, which did not inspire confidence in the Iranian Government's intentions to adopt a peaceful and constructive role in the Middle East. It also criticised President Ahmadinejad's recent meeting with representatives of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and expressed its deep concern about the present attitude of the Iranian authorities to Iran's nuclear programme, notably to the removal of seals at several nuclear installations, and its decision to resume enrichment-related activities.

It considered that it was necessary for Iran to re-establish the full suspension of all enrichment-related and reprocessing activities, to reconsider the construction of a research reactor moderated by heavy water, to ratify promptly and resume full implementation of the Additional Protocol and, in general terms, to implement the transparency measures requested by the IAEA Director General.

Parliament reaffirmed that Iran had the right to develop a nuclear programme in conformity with Article IV of the NPT but reiterated its call on the Iranian Government to refrain from threatening any state and to act with respect for the principles of the Charter of the United Nations. The involvement of the UN Security Council constituted a necessary step on the road to assessing the present situation. 

Parliament called on all the parties involved to do their utmost to make progress towards a negotiated settlement of the nuclear dispute before the IAEA Director General's report to the Board meeting of 6 March 2006. It stressed the importance of cooperation with the USA, Russia, China and non-aligned countries in order to consider complementary action with a view to achieving a comprehensive agreement with Iran concerning its nuclear facilities and their use, which takes account of Iran's security concerns.

Iran should consider seriously the Russian uranium enrichment process proposal, shared by the E3, which would allow Iran to advance its nuclear programme within a multilateral framework. Such a solution must be acknowledged as a proposed improvement to the present rules, under IAEA control, for any interested countries. Parliament called on the EU to support proposals to achieve multilateral administration of uranium enrichment, for example for the Middle Eastern Region, with distribution placed under the control of the IAEA.

It called on Iran to take advantage of its enormous energy reserves and technological know-how in order to invest in the development of renewable energies and the modern and rational use of fossil energies. Finally, Parliament took the view that the establishment of a zone free of weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East could be an important step towards meeting the security concerns of the countries of that region.