The Iranian nuclear issue raises growing concerns within the international community. In an interview with Sunday newspaper of January 17, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Yves Le Drian, expressed his fears about the nuclear activities of the Islamic Republic, calling for an immediate reaction and a return of the United States to the 2015 agreement as soon as the assumption of office of Joe Biden.
“Iran – I say it clearly – is in the process of acquiring nuclear capacity, estimated Mr. Le Drian. There is also a presidential election in Iran in mid-June. It is therefore urgent to tell the Iranians that this is enough and to arrange for Iran and the United States to return to the Vienna Agreement. “
This agreement signed between Iran and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (France, United Kingdom, Russia, China, United States) plus Germany, provides for a partial lifting of international sanctions against Tehran, in exchange of measures designed to ensure that this country does not acquire atomic weapons. But outgoing US President Donald Trump unilaterally walked out in 2018.
” It’s urgent “
“In coming out of this deal, the Trump administration chose the strategy it called “maximum pressure” against Iran. The result is that this strategy only increased the risk and the threat. We must therefore stop this mechanism “, estimated the head of French diplomacy.
“It will not be enough, he added, however. It will require difficult discussions on ballistic proliferation and Iran’s destabilization of its neighbors in the region. I am bound by secrecy about the timing of this kind of file, but it is urgent. “
France, Germany and the United Kingdom also asked Tehran on Saturday to give up the production of uranium metal, which would mark a new violation of its commitments made in the Vienna agreement.
“We, the governments of Germany, France and the United Kingdom are deeply concerned about Iran’s announcement that it is preparing to produce uranium metal”, warn the three countries in a joint statement. Iran told the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Wednesday to advance in its production of uranium metal to be used as fuel for a reactor. The subject is sensitive because uranium metal can be used as a component for nuclear weapons.
In response to the European trio, the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization (OIEA) said on Saturday evening that it had not, at this stage, “Presented information (…) about the design of the uranium metal plant » at the IAEA. According to her, this will be done when “The necessary repairs will have been carried out and within the time limits imposed by law”.
“Serious military implications”
The OIEA refers to the five-month period set in December 2020 by the Iranian parliament for Tehran to prepare the plant, among other provisions related to its nuclear program. The body also hoped that the IAEA did not cause new “Misunderstandings in the future, by refraining from mentioning superfluous details in his reports”.
The 2015 agreement includes a fifteen-year ban on “The production or acquisition of plutonium or uranium metals or their alloys”. He predicts that Iran may be allowed to begin research into uranium fuel production “In small approved quantities” after ten years, but only with the permission of the other signatories to the agreement.
“Iran has no credible civilian use of uranium metal”, add London, Berlin and Paris. “The production of uranium metal can have serious military implications”, they lament. Iran has committed for fifteen years, within the framework of the Vienna Nuclear Agreement (ANCV), not to produce uranium metal nor to carry out research and development activities in the field of metallurgy uranium “, recall these three signatory countries of the 2015 agreement.
“We urge Iran, in the strongest terms, to cease this activity and immediately resume its obligations under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action if Iran is serious about preserving this agreement.”, they conclude.
On January 4, the Iranian authorities had already announced a serious violation of the international agreement, saying they would resume enrichment to 20% of uranium at the Fordo underground site.
