June 24, 2024
Ambassador Vanessa Frazier, Permanent Representative of Malta to the United Nations, speaking in her capacity as Facilitator for the implementation of resolution 2231 (2015), reported that the seventeenth Facilitator’s report was approved by Council members on 19 June.
Thanking all such members for their cooperation and constructive engagement in that process, she said that the report provides a factual account of the activities that occurred relating to the Council’s “2231 format” from 15 December 2023 to 19 June 2024. It includes five sections: relating to summaries of activities; monitoring implementation of the resolution; relevant communications; the workings of the procurement channel; and transparency, outreach and guidance. She also reported that, during the reporting period, one Council meeting in the “2231 format” was held on 18 June; 22 notes were circulated within that format; 16 official communications were sent to Member States and the Coordinator of the Procurement Working Group of the Joint Commission; and 15 communications from Member States and the Coordinator were received.
Among those communications, she went on to say, were two regular quarterly reports by IAEA — issued in February and May 2024 — along with ad hoc Agency reports in December 2023 and June 2024. Underlining IAEA’s important role in the verification and monitoring of nuclear activities in Iran, she said that the Agency’s work “provides confidence for the international community” that Iran’s nuclear programme “is for exclusively peaceful purposes in accordance with the modalities set out in the JCPOA [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action]”. She added that no new proposals were submitted to the Council through the procurement channel during the reporting period, emphasizing that the channel represents a “key transparency and confidence-building mechanism” under the Plan. It remains operational, and the Procurement Working Group is ready to receive review proposals.
“As stated by the speakers before me, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, as endorsed by this Council through resolution 2231 (2015), is the best available option to ensure that the Iranian nuclear programme remains exclusively peaceful,” she emphasized. While recognizing the “challenging environment the ‘2231 format’ is facing”, she said that dialogue and multilateralism can ensure that the Plan and the relevant resolution are implemented effectively “while building on mutual trust and cooperation”.