Comments by French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Michel Barnier, on his Visit to the United States (Excerpts)

December 15, 2004

Related Country: 

  • United States

. . .

Q. - Regarding the question of Iran, what attitude did you see among the Americans?

THE MINISTER - There are still a lot of questions, vigilance and a bit of scepticism probably about the approach the Europeans began a year ago now, one we French, Germans and British carried out a bit like pathfinders, to find a political solution to this problem which is real, the question of proliferation. Truly the Middle East doesn't need nuclear weapons or more arms or more crises. So we chose to persuade the Iranians to give up nuclear weapons for good. To get that decision, we also offered Iran, which is a great country and an important one in the region, political dialogue and a plan for civil nuclear cooperation and commercial, industrial and economic cooperation. That's where we are. I think that the Americans will follow, and we need them to follow and support this process of political dialogue.

. . .

Q. - Did Dr Rice send a clear message about Iran? Can you tell us what's happening with that?

THE MINISTER - It's an extremely important issue, one that poses problems for peace and stability. You know that three European countries - Britain, France and Germany - have been negotiating with Iran for a year to get that country to decide to renounce nuclear weapons and uranium reprocessing and enrichment for military purposes. In exchange, we're proposing a political, economic and commercial dialogue, a dialogue on a civilian nuclear industry. It's true that the Americans are following our mediation with scepticism and watchfulness. I talked about where we stand in our discussions with Iran. I think that the political path is the right one to take with that great country, and we need the United States' support, view and cooperation to continue this discussion and be successful.

. . .