Mr. Chair,

China has taken note of the report submitted by the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) entitled "Iran's compliance with its NPT Safeguards Agreement" (GOV/2022/26). China supports the IAEA and Iran in resolving their differences on the issue of safeguards through dialogue and cooperation. We hope that both sides will continue to meet each other halfway to ensure that the relevant consensus is effectively implemented. China also calls on all parties to play a constructive role in this regard and to avoid politicizing the work of the Agency.

China believes that the most urgent task at hand is to push for an agreement to be reached as soon as possible over the negotiations on resuming implementation of the JCPOA, so as to facilitate the early return of JCPOA to its right track, by which time we believe that all outstanding safeguards issues will be resolved accordingly. We call on all parties concerned to exercise restraint, seek to resolve the root cause of the problem and avoid words and actions, tabling a resolution for instance, that could undermine the negotiation process on the Iranian nuclear issue.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.