Don’t Bomb Iran

Commentary: “No civilian nuclear programme can explain the Iranian nuclear programme. So it is a clandestine Iranian military nuclear programme,” French Foreign minister Douste-Blazy told France 2 television, but apparently this is not a change of position. UK foreign minister Jack Straw agreed.
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France says Iran has secret nuclear arms programme
Thu Feb 16, 2006 2:11 PM GMT11

By Paul Carrel

PARIS (Reuters) - France accused Iran on Thursday of pursuing a
secret military nuclear programme, drawing a swift rebuke from Tehran
ahead of talks next week on a Russian proposal for resolving the
dispute.

French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said Iran’s nuclear
work, which Tehran says aims to generate electricity, could not
possibly be designed for civilian uses alone.

Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani responded with a warning to
the West not to hector Tehran, a heated exchange that boded ill for
talks in Moscow on Monday on a Russian compromise aimed at ending
the row peacefully.

Russia has offered to enrich Iranian uranium on its soil and return it to
Iran for use in atomic reactors, thereby easing international concerns
Iran could produce bomb-grade uranium.

“No civilian nuclear programme can explain the Iranian nuclear
programme. So it is a clandestine Iranian military nuclear programme,”
Douste-Blazy told France 2 television.

“The international community has sent a very firm message by saying
to the Iranians: ‘Come back to reason. Suspend all nuclear activity and
the enrichment of uranium and the conversion of uranium’,” he added.

“They are not listening to us,” said Douste-Blazy, whose comments
drew a swift reaction from Tehran.

“I suggest that Mr. Douste-Blazy use a diplomatic tone and avoid
increasing the tension,” Larijani told Iranian television.

Iran’s energy minister said that despite huge oil and gas reserves the
country needs nuclear power to meet booming demand.

“We will face problems producing electricity in the next four years
without nuclear energy,” the minister, Parviz Fattah, was quoted by
state television as saying.

The French Foreign Ministry denied France had hardened its position.
A spokeswoman told a regular electronic briefing that Douste-Blazy
had simply restated Paris’s position.

“The sensitive nuclear activities currently under way in Iran as regards
conversion and enrichment cast doubt upon their peaceful and civilian
nature”, Agnes Romatet-Espagne said.

Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said he held the same position as
Douste-Blazy because he had worked very closely with his French and
German counterparts on the Iran issue.

The onus was on Tehran, given its previous covert activities, to allay
suspicions about its nuclear programme, Straw told a news conference
during a visit to Algiers.

CHINA URGES DIPLOMATIC RESOLUTION

China, which like France is a permanent member of the U.N. Security
Council, said it was extremely concerned about the standoff, a day
after the United States accused Tehran of defying the international
community by resuming enrichment.

“It’s extremely important for the international community to uphold the
consensus on resolving the Iran nuclear issue through diplomatic
means,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said.

A top Russian general said Washington might eventually use force
against Iran, with perilous consequences for the world.

“Can the developments surrounding Iran follow a military path? I
cannot rule this out,” Russian Chief of Staff General Yuri Baluyevsky
told journalists, Interfax news agency reported.

He said U.S. military capabilities could not be compared with Iran’s, but
apart from any Iranian response, any attack would set off unpredictable
reactions in the Muslim world.

“This is something that could stir the whole world and this cannot be
allowed,” he added. “Reason should prevail in this situation, first of all
on the Iranian side.”

Iran resumed small-scale feeding of uranium gas into centrifuge
enrichment machines on Tuesday after a break of 2-1/2 years,
according to officials close to the Vienna-based International Atomic
Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog.

One Western diplomat described Iran’s recent behaviour as
“worrisome” and was downbeat about the prospects for Monday’s
meeting between Iranian and Russian officials.

“If you look at the pattern of recent Iranian behaviour it is hard not to
be sceptical about what happens on Monday or in the near term,” the
diplomat said. “But nothing they say or do in Iran now suggests that
they are getting ready for a U-turn.”

After three years of investigation, the IAEA has found no hard proof
Iran is seeking nuclear arms, but has been unable to verify that its
atomic programme is entirely for peaceful aims.

Larijani told France Inter radio that Iran remained ready to negotiate
with members of the European Union. “But they are not going to talk to
us in the language of threats,” he said.

Douste-Blazy said the U.N. Security Council would decide what action
to take on Iran once the head of the IAEA, Mohamed ElBaradei,
submits a report in March.

The IAEA’s board of governors decided on February 4 to report Iran to
the council, which has the power to impose sanctions.

(Additional reporting by Tehran, Beijing and Moscow bureaux)