Today's Date:

THE MINISTER – (…) As regards Iran, as you know, for three years we've spared no effort to persuade her to restore what I'd describe as a relationship of confidence between the international community and Iran. Again, on 3 March, Javier Solana, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the British Foreign Office political director and I had a meeting with the Iranian negotiator, Mr Larijani, and told him that to restore confidence two things are required: Iran's re-establishment of a complete suspension of enrichment-related and reprocessing activities, including what Tehran calls "research and development” and, secondly, Iran's full cooperation with the IAEA.

These conditions are simple, they are legitimate, they do not adversely affect Iran's interests. However, we have to face the fact that Tehran is not ready to accept them. This week the IAEA Board of Governors again looked into the Iranian nuclear issue. Again, Iran has not accepted the hand of friendship which the Europeans and their main partners, and particularly Russia, have held out to her. We regret this. The latest report from the IAEA Director General, Mr ElBaradei, highlights the persistence of many problems all giving the international community cause for concern. The time has now come, as my European colleagues and I, with the Americans, Russians and Chinese decided in London in January this year, to refer the matter to the United Nations Security Council.

Today once again, I noted how united, at-one, the Europeans were on this issue. We talked about the future stages, particularly at the Security Council. Our objective is to back the IAEA's action and authority. We decided to keep in constant contact with the United States, go on keeping in close, constant contact with Russia and China, and maintain a substantive dialogue with the non-aligned countries on this issue. I myself said that France will shoulder all her responsibilities, that she will do so with the concern to maintain the international community's unity and also with the resolve to remain firm in the face of all the risks of proliferation so as to ensure that the voice of reason and peace prevails.

Finally, we say this again very clearly today, no one disputes Iran's legitimate right to nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. But for this she must honour her international obligations and make the necessary gestures to restore confidence. So we call on Iran to accept the complete suspension of all her enrichment-related and uranium reprocessing activities, including research and development. And, more than ever before, the European Union must be in the vanguard of international diplomacy on this subject. On this, it's important for us Europeans to display the requisite firmness, but also the requisite unity. Everything we propose must be sufficiently incremental to be understood by everyone, including the Russians and Chinese.

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THE MINISTER – I'd like, as you suggest, just to clarify something on Iran. I think that when it comes to Iran we have to talk about two issues: the Iranian nuclear issue – and I spoke several times on this. Mr ElBaradei presented a report expressing his concerns on the nature of the Iranian nuclear programme.

The second subject is human rights in Iran. I think it's an important one. I have just had a meeting at the Quai d'Orsay with Mrs Shirin Ebadi, the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize winner. The Quai d'Orsay had already invited her in 1999. We had a fairly long discussion. Clearly, if we are to talk to the Iranian public, we have also to talk about human rights, say there are today executions, political prisoners, problems of press freedom, and that it's also important to be able to fight for human rights in every country in the world. These are important matters.

Besides that, there is indeed your question: "are the negotiations possible?" The European Union honestly thinks that Iran has, of course, to get round a table with us and talk to us all not only about a civilian nuclear programme, access to nuclear power for peaceful purposes, but about other matters too – we have already done this for the 2004 Paris Agreement; this was what enabled us to reach agreements signed by both parties. Iran unilaterally renounced this agreement in August 2005. But I think there's a greater need than ever for negotiations, we have to believe in negotiations, we have to believe in reason. Iran is, I repeat, a very great country, a great civilization which has signed the NPT and we need to negotiate.

THE MINISTER – We are ready to do everything to maintain the international community's unity, first of all for the sake of its credibility, and secondly to get our message through to the Iranians. You say: "there are some words we use and others we don't”; I answered you on this point just now, I told you that as soon as we start this Security Council process, everything done not only by the European Union but also by the Russians will have to be sufficiently incremental.

Once again, our objective isn't punitive, it's political. So every possible proposal must be made, the Russian proposal was going in the right direction. The Iranians refused it since they said "yes" to enrichment in Russia, but also "yes" to enrichment in their own country. The next day the Russians reacted. It doesn't matter whether it's France, the Germans, other Europeans or Russians who achieve a new consensus with the Iranians, whoever it is we will be very happy./.