To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what International Atomic Energy Agency supervision the Iranian Government would be required to accept in order for the UK Government to be satisfied that uranium enrichment in Iran would be confined to entirely peaceful purposes; and if she will make a statement. (139826)

After many years of hiding its nuclear programme from the world, Iran needs to satisfy the international community, and not just the UK, that its programme is for purely peaceful reasons. The generous and far-reaching proposals presented to Iran on behalf of the E3+3 (France, Germany, UK + China, Russia, US) by Dr. Javier Solana in June 2006 would give Iran everything it needs to develop a modern civil nuclear power programme. These remain on the table and we stand ready to negotiate with Iran on the basis of these. But Iran first needs to suspend its enrichment-related activities, as repeatedly required by the UN Security Council and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors, to gain the confidence of the international community.

We will not be satisfied that Iran’s nuclear programme is for entirely peaceful purposes until Iran meets in full the requirements of the international community. These include Iran’s obligations under UN Security Council Resolutions 1696, 1737 and 1747, as well as the requirements under IAEA Board of Governors decisions and resolutions. In particular, as the Director-General of the IAEA has stated many times, unless Iran addresses the long outstanding verification issues, and implements the Additional Protocol which it has agreed with the agency, as well as essential transparency measures, the IAEA will not be able to fully reconstruct the history of Iran’s nuclear programme and provide the international community with assurances about the exclusively peaceful nature of that programme. The Director-General has also stated that these required transparency measures would need to go further than the measures prescribed in the Safeguards Agreement and Additional Protocol, given the 20 years of undeclared nuclear activities in Iran. In the Director-General’s most recent report on Iran on 23 May, he noted that the agency’s level of knowledge of certain aspects of Iran’s nuclear related activities had deteriorated over the past year.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what response she has made to proposals for (a) further incentives for Iran to suspend Iranian enrichment and (b) a further round of sanctions against the Iranian regime; and if she will make a statement. (140157)

The report by the Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Dr. ElBaradei, of 23 May made clear that Iran had not complied with UN Security Council Resolution 1747. As envisaged in the resolution, the Security Council will respond accordingly and will adopt further sanctions on Iran. We remain committed to the twin-track approach and stand ready to enter negotiations with Iran, once they comply with the Security Council Resolutions and the IAEA Board of Governors, on the basis of the generous and far-reaching proposals presented to Iran by Javier Solana in June 2006 on behalf of the E3+3 (France, Germany, UK + China, Russia, US).