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France says iran seeks nuke weapons Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
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Associated Press
Update 4: France Says Iran Seeks Nuke Weapons
By GEORGE JAHN , 02.16.2006, 09:30 AM
France accused Iran on Thursday of seeking nuclear weapons in Europe's bluntest criticism to date of Tehran's uranium enrichment plans, while Russia urged its erstwhile ally to re-impose an indefinite freeze on enrichment.
While the United States routinely accused Iran of trying to make such arms, French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy's bold statement appeared to reflect mounting exasperation and a tougher stance than European negotiators had previously maintained in their efforts to persuade Iran to suspend nuclear activities.
"No civilian nuclear program can explain the Iranian nuclear program. It is a clandestine military nuclear program," Douste-Blazy said on France-2 television.
"The international community has sent a very firm message in telling the Iranians to return to reason and suspend all nuclear activity and the enrichment and conversion of uranium, but they aren't listening to us."
France, Britain and Germany have been negotiating with Iran on behalf of the European Union. Europe and the United States fear that Iran is using its nuclear program to build weapons, and the U.N. Security Council will consider Iran's efforts next month.
The council has the power to impose economic and political sanctions. Amid mounting tensions, Iran resumed small-scale uranium enrichment last week.
"Now it's up to the Security Council to say what it will do, what means it will use to stop, to manage, to halt this terrible crisis of nuclear proliferation caused by Iran," Douste-Blazy said.
Iranian negotiator Ali Larijani responded to those comments by saying: "We want civilian nuclear energy, we don't want to have the bomb."
Russia, too, applied pressure.
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow's proposal to host Iran's enrichment program was only on the table if Tehran re-imposed a moratorium on such activities at home. He spoke ahead of Monday's meeting in Moscow on the proposal, meant to allay fears Tehran might misuse the technology for weapons.
The meeting is crucial in determining whether international tensions over Iran's program diminish or balloon.
Lavrov, who met with senior EU officials in Vienna on Wednesday, suggested that Russian backing of enrichment on Iranian soil was a long way off.
"When confidence in the Iranian nuclear program is re-established ... we could come back to the possible implementation of the right that Iran has to develop a nuclear energy sector full scale," Lavrov said.
Russia, a traditional ally of Iran, backed Tehran's referral to the Security Council earlier this month on condition the council take up the issue no earlier than March and based on a report being prepared by International Atomic Energy Agency head Mohamed ElBaradei on the agency's probe into Tehran's nuclear program.
An Iranian official said Wednesday that Tehran would like to avoid having the Security Council take action on its nuclear program and believes Russia's proposal could provide the basis for an immediate short-term solution.
But Iran will not abandon its right to full nuclear technology, including enriching uranium, which is guaranteed under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, said the official, who is knowledgeable about the country's nuclear negotiations.
Iran's deputy nuclear negotiator, Javad Vaeidi, will lead the team heading to Moscow for talks with the Russians, the Iranian official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.
"But we have said there are prospects for the proposal to become acceptable and to be implemented," the official said. "We will do our best in good faith to reach that positive conclusion."
Iran confirmed Tuesday it has resumed small-scale uranium enrichment, and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visited the Natanz plant Wednesday, Iran's official Islamic Republic News Agency reported.
Ahmadinejad's visit to the central Iran plant was widely seen as a gesture of support for scientists involved in the enrichment program. Activities at Natanz had been suspended since October 2003.
"What enemies fear is not production of an atomic bomb, because in today's world atomic bombs are not efficient," Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying. "The main fear and concern of enemies is the self-reliance and knowledge of the Iranian nation and the fact that Iranian youth are acquiring peaceful nuclear technology."
The Iranian official said it is a matter of national pride that the country has developed or copied the technology to produce and run centrifuges and the materials used in the centrifuges despite Western efforts to deprive it of nuclear technology.
Centrifuges are used to enrich uranium. Uranium enriched to low level is used to produce nuclear fuel for reactors, while further enrichment makes it suitable for weapons.
Iran had 164 centrifuges in Natanz sealed by the IAEA in 2003. The seals were removed last month when Iran resumed nuclear research. Iranian officials have indicated that Tehran may possess up to 2,000 centrifuges. For large-scale enrichment, Iran has to build up to 60,000 centrifuges.
The official stressed that Iran wants to use nuclear technology purely for peaceful purposes, that it opposes all weapons of mass destruction and favors all countries getting rid of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.
U.N. sanctions could damage Iran's economy, and pressure will only strengthen the resolve of the Iranian people to advance their peaceful nuclear technology, the official said.
The official said the Russian proposal could pave the way for negotiations on a longer-term solution that would allow Iran to enrich uranium under the strictest monitoring the IAEA has ever conducted.
Associated Press reporters Ali Akbar Dareini in Tehran, Iran, and Angela Charlton in Paris contributed to this report.
Copyright 2005 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed
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