BELGIUM: France says Iran must stop nuclear activities.

Iran must stop nuclear activities before international sanctions can be lifted, French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said. France took a hard line against Iran in Brussels on Monday (February 12) saying that the international community should accept no less than the suspension of all "sensitive nuclear activity". French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste Blazy was speaking after a European Union meeting where ministers agreed to implement UN sanctions on Iran to try and force it to suspend efforts to make nuclear fuel. "President Ahmadinejad in his speech yesterday rejected any suspension of sensitive nuclear activity. But the United Nations Security Council unanimously on the 23rd of December voted for the resolution 1737, explaining what Iran should do to suspend sanctions. To suspend fully and in a manner verified by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) all activities linked to the uranium enrichment," Douste-Blazy said. The EU said the sanctions would strictly follow measures listed in a United Nations resolution in December but EU ministers also said they wanted to hold the door open to fresh talks on defusing the standoff over what Western powers suspect is a covert Iranian bid to make atom bombs. The UN has set a February 21 deadline for Iran to suspend uranium enrichment or face further sanctions. Diplomats at a meeting in Munich aid a few European nations were weighing the idea of letting Iran run a few hundred nuclear centrifuges for research but without feeding uranium into them to generate fuel. Meanwhile, trade incentives offered by the West last year to stop uranium enrichment would be negotiated. But Douste Blazy rejected the idea. "An Iranian commitment is only limited to not introducing matters in the centrifuges while they are still working. That commitment from Iran will absolutely not answer to the request of the United Nations," Douste-Blazy said. On the Palestinian issue the EU tried to encourage the formation of an internationally acceptable Palestinian government with the prospect of expanded emergency assistance and an eventual resumption of direct aid. EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner praised Saudi Arabia for encouraging Palestinian rivals Fatah and Hamas to sign an agreement last Thursday to form a united government. Ferrero-Waldner added the EU had to study details of the proposed administration before determining future assistance, but added it would already be possible to expand help under a temporary aid mechanism set up last year to bypass Hamas. Douste Blazy sees this as a positive move which should help the Palestinians. "France thinks that after several weeks of murderous fighting among Palestinian factions, this agreement is offering to all Palestinians an occasion to surmount their divisions and unite behind a government of national unity," he said. This month the Quartet of Middle East peace brokers called for a development of the so-called Temporary International Mechanism -- which channelled nearly 200 million euros (259 million US dollars) of EU funds to Palestinians last year -- to assist governance programmes, institution building and the economy. Ferrero-Waldner explicitly held out the prospect of a resumption of direct aid if a new administration reflected the principles of Quartet by recognising Israel's right to exist, renouncing violence and respecting peace accords.

ITN Source | February 13, 2007