PARIS, Oct 3 (KUNA) — France said on Wednesday that an offer by the international community to cooperate with Iran in the nuclear, economic and other areas “was still on the table” as long as Tehran complied with its obligations to the UN Security Council.
“We are open to dialogue on all subjects with Iran,” said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Pascale Andreani.
She noted the offer to Iran made by France, Germany and Britain in 2005 and renewed with the support of Russia, China and the United States in 2006.
That offer included technical support for Irans civil nuclear program, economic support and the assurance of some form of security and political dialogue with Tehran.
Andreani remarked that the “Six” major nations had “proposed to open discussions in all domains, including cooperation in civil nuclear matters.” “That offer is still on the table,” she insisted.
But she cautioned that “for such a dialogue to be held, Iran must all the same be in conformity with the demands of the international community as set out in UN Security Council resolutions 1696, 1737 and 1747.” The last two off those resolutions impose sanctions on Iran for failing to halt uranium enrichment and reprocessing, an activity viewed by some countries as “sensitive” and which certain nations say could lead to the development of nuclear weapon.
Iran strongly denies it is making an atomic bomb and says its program is for civil nuclear energy only, but it walked away from the talks with the major powers because it said it was not satisfied with the offer on the table.
The French official remarked that there are three obligations facing Iran at the current time.
“The resolution of outstanding questions, like prior activities. The suspension of sensitive activities and, in particular, uranium enrichment, and the signature of additional protocols,” which govern how Iran is to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN nuclear watchdog