Jean-Yves Le Drian hardens his tone against Iran. In an interview with the “Journal du Dimanche”, the French Foreign Minister expresses his concerns 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 Joe Biden takes office. “Iran – I say this clearly – is in the process of acquiring nuclear capacity”, warns Jean-Yves 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 provides for a partial lifting of international sanctions against Iran, in exchange for measures intended to ensure that this country does not acquire atomic weapons. But Donald Trump came out unilaterally in 2018. “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 “, believes the head of French diplomacy.
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” It’s urgent “
“It will not be enough”, he adds, however. “It will take 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 ”.
Iran had indicated Wednesday to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to advance in its production of uranium metal to serve as fuel for a reactor. The subject is sensitive because uranium metal can be used as a component for nuclear weapons and the 2015 agreement includes a 15-year ban on “The production or acquisition of plutonium or uranium metals or their alloys”.
