Ahmadinejad. Sparking concern
Photo: AP
France alarmed over Iran's nuclear boast
Paris calls on UN to probe new nuclear fuel plant and 7,000 centrifuges Ahmadinejad alleges are open
France expressed concern Friday after Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad boasted that his country had developed new nuclear fuel enrichment technology despite international pressure not to do so.
"These are worrying declarations," French foreign ministry spokesman Eric Chevallier told reporters. "We need to check the accuracy of the figures ... and for that we'll wait for the International Atomic Energy Agency."
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Chevallier reiterated France's call for Tehran to submit to a full IAEA inspection regime at all its nuclear sites and halt its ongoing program to enrich uranium into nuclear fuel.
On Thursday, Ahmadinejad opened a nuclear fuel plant and announced the testing of two high capacity centrifuges, while claiming that Iran's Natanz site now holds 7,000 working centrifuges to enrich nuclear fuel.
But US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Thursday she did not see Iran's latest statements about its nuclear program as a rebuff to US overtures to engage Tehran, and voiced skepticism over Ahmadinejad's figures.
"We do not attribute any particular meaning, with respect to the range of issues that we are looking to address with the Iranians, from this particular statement," Clinton said at a news conference.
"We don't know what to believe about the Iranian program. We've heard many different assessments and claims over a number of years," she added.
Clinton reiterated that Iran must abide by international obligations over its nuclear program, which the West suspects is cover for building an atomic bomb and Tehran argues is for peaceful purposes to generate electricity.
"It would benefit the Iranians in our view if they cooperated with the international community, if they abided by a set of obligations and expectations that affect them and by which we believe they are bound. We are going to continue to insist on that," said Clinton.
