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IRAN/NUCLEAR POWER

I would like to draw your attention to the communiqué we released yesterday evening:

The German, British and French political directors, their American, Chinese and Russian counterparts, as well as the representative of the EU Council's Secretariat General conducted an in-depth exchange of views on the evaluation of the Iranian nuclear program in light of the report made public on April 28 by the IAEA Director General, Mr. elBaradei.

They all expressed their concern with respect to the development of this program, which is not compatible with the demands of the international community as expressed in the resolutions of the IAEA Board of Governors and the presidential declaration delivered at the Security Council on March 29.

The participants discussed the steps to be taken at the UN Security Council. The three European political directors presented the outlines of a draft resolution aimed at making the IAEA's demands binding, particularly those dealing with the suspension of activities linked to uranium enrichment and reprocessing.

It was agreed to continue discussions, particularly in New York, with the aim of reaching a firm Security Council decision, thus sending a clear message to Iran. At the same time, incentives and deterrent measures, whose implementation would depend on Iran's attitude, will be considered.

A ministerial meeting following the same format is slated for the evening of May 8 in New York.

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