France: Iran secretly developing nukes

French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy branded Iran's nuclear program for the first time as a "clandestine, military" project.

"It's very simple: No civilian nuclear program can explain Iran's nuclear program," he told France 2 television in an interview, two days after Tehran confirmed it was resuming sensitive uranium enrichment work.

"Therefore it's a clandestine military nuclear program," the French minister charged.

"Firstly, the international community has sent a very strong message to the Iranians: Show reason, suspend all nuclear activities and uranium enrichment," Douste-Blazy said, adding: "And they're not listening to us.

"That is the reason why, for the first time for days, the international community is united. It's not just the Europeans -- France, Germany and the British -- it's also Russia and China."

Meanwhile, the head of Iran's nuclear problem told a French radio station his country is not interested in acquiring nuclear weapons.

"We're not interested in producing a bomb and therefore we accepted the nuclear non-proliferation treaty," he said. "We're a responsible country and everything (the West) is saying about us regarding the production of a bomb is baseless."

The exact nature of Iran's nuclear ambitions - Tehran insists that it just wants to make civilian nuclear power - has sparked an international standoff that saw Iran referred to the United Nation's Security Council.

Earlier this month the United States and a European Union troika made up of Britain, France and Germany persuaded the watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to report Iran to the Security Council for action.

The world body is awaiting a March 6 report by IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei before deciding how to proceed.