Statement by the Press Secretary/Director-General for Press and Public Relations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on the Resumption of Uranium Conversion Activities by Iran

August 5, 2005

Japan deems it a matter of regret that on August 1, Iran notified the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) that it would resume uranium conversion activities despite the call of the international community including Japan, at a time when EU-3 (France, Germany and the U.K.) and Iran have been negotiating for a long-term arrangement.
The continuation of the suspension of uranium conversion is required both by an agreement reached between the EU-3 and Iran in November last year (Paris Agreement) and by an IAEA Board of Governors' resolution in the same month, and Japan has been calling on Iran to abide by them.
Japan strongly calls on Iran to withdraw its decision to resume uranium conversion activities and to implement sincerely all the requirements of relevant IAEA resolutions including the suspension of all uranium enrichment-related and reprocessing activities without exception.

(END)