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Daily Press Briefing Statements made by [Please note that only the original French text issued by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs may be considered official.] IRAN/NUCLEAR POWER
Q – There will be an IAEA meeting today in Vienna. Are you going to ask that Iran be referred to the UN Security Council?
The IAEA governors’ meeting will begin this afternoon; I can’t prejudge its results. Let’s wait for the results of the meeting before we comment. What we hope and expect from this meeting is that Iran will reinstitute its suspension of sensitive activities, as the minister noted yesterday.
Q – Is France very clear on what Iran is currently doing in Isfahan?
The minister was very clear on this point yesterday, I don’t need to repeat what he himself said. He spoke of a violation.
As far as what’s going on in the Isfahan plant, it’s up to the IAEA to take stock of the current situation, and I think that the IAEA secretariat and Dr. elBaradei will have the opportunity to report to the governors during the meeting beginning this afternoon.
Q – The French hope and expect the Iranians to re-suspend their activities. How can we get them to do that, since the foreign minister said yesterday that France, along with its partners, would stress its positions at the meeting this afternoon?
That will be the precise purpose of the IAEA Board of Governors’ discussions. How to succeed? Again yesterday evening, the Minister called on Iran to reinstitute the suspension of its activities. The IAEA governors will study the best way to get Iran to indeed heed the call we hope to issue on behalf of the international community.
Q – Of the three EU governments that were holding talks with Iran—that is, France, Great Britain and Germany, as well as High Representative Javier Solana—the harshest criticism following the Iranian decision came from France, from the minister himself, who is accusing Iran of deliberately provoking a grave crisis. Do you believe that’s the best way to bring the Iranians back to the talks, using very harsh language to a government that’s up against the wall and needs to be supported rather than being criticized so directly and violently?
I believe that in this case, as we’ve seen for many months now, the Europeans are completely united in their objectives and in what they expect from Iran and are proposing to Iran.
Let me remind you that a very substantial proposal was conveyed to the Iranians this past Friday. The Europeans are thus clearly united; we are all speaking with one voice. We are all delivering the same message and we all have the same objective. I also suggest you carefully re-read all of the statements issued by the minister, who is calling for dialogue. The door is not closed. Indeed, we hope that through this dialogue and through this meeting, which is beginning this afternoon, that Iran will reinstitute the suspension of its nuclear activities.
Q – What does France think about the American reaction to this crisis? It was very moderate in comparison with the position they’d taken earlier, demanding that Iran be immediately brought before the Security Council.
I have no particular comment about the American position. As you know, the Europeans, with Javier Solana, consult with a large number of partners and we are supported in our approach by a very large number of partners, including but not limited to the United States, and Russia as well. I can’t name them all.
The three European nations’ approach has received the strong support of the international community.
Q – The Europeans made a very detailed, complete proposal that the Iranians refused, as the minister said yesterday, very strongly. As of when will the Europeans consider that the Paris agreement is dead?
That is indeed one of the essential points of the meeting opening this afternoon in Vienna. I think the discussions will help us explore with all our partners how to bring the Iranians back to the negotiating table and to the dialogue, and to thereby remain within the framework of the Paris agreement.
Q – Today Alireza Jafarzadeh said there are several thousand centrifuges ready to be installed in Natanz. Are you aware of that statement and have you had an inkling of this type of information in the past?
We noted the press reports, but I have no comment.
Q – Can you help us understand the problem with the global proposal to the Iranians? Was there just one stumbling block, were there several? Is it a categorical rejection of the European position? Did they leave open any possibility of moving forward on the issue before resuming activities in Isfahan?
That will also be one of the points on the meeting’s agenda. The only thing I can note is that indeed, the activities in question have resumed, thus the usefulness—even greater usefulness, I’d say—of a meeting for the relevant partners including Iran to discuss the way to return to the agreed upon framework of the Paris agreement, which was working up to the present.
Q – In the letter that accompanied the proposals themselves, the EU proposed a meeting with the Iranians on August 31. Have the Iranians said whether or not they will attend?
We called for dialogue and a return to the Paris agreement. This will be the challenge of the IAEA meeting beginning shortly. Let’s wait for the results of the discussions.
Q – Do you have any reaction to the publication of Mr. Volcker’s report, and can you tell us anything about how it relates to France? A legal case has been opened and you can’t comment on such affairs on principle, but this goes beyond the French courts. It extends to the international arena and the UN. There are repercussions at every level. The secretary-general is being called into question by his son. There’s talk of e-mails connecting him with the activities. Many people are being smeared and there are even people being held. Maybe it’s time for a little comment?
France took note of yesterday’s publication of the Volcker Commission’s third interim report. France hopes that light will be shed on all possible irregularities committed in the context of the Oil for Food program. To this end, I want to remind you that France supported from the very beginning the establishment of the Volcker Commission of Inquiry and the work of this commission, created at the behest of the UN secretary-general. As the Commission itself expressly notes in its interim report published yesterday, France has cooperated fully and openly with investigators.
We are waiting for the Commission chaired by Mr. Volcker to publish its final report.
We have noted that a French national was cited in this interim report. France has no comment to make on this particular point. The Volcker Commission’s investigations, like those of the French courts, are unfolding in a completely independent manner.
Q – Is the national an individual, not a company?
It’s an individual./.
Embassy of France, August 9, 2005
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