[Please note that only the original French text issued by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs may be considered official.]

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Q: The Russian foreign minister said today the Iranian dossier should be handled by the IAEA not the Security Council. I'd like your comment.

A: I've not seen Mr. Lavrov's statement specifically, but it's not the first time we've heard that kind of thing from the Russians. In this case the issue is not whether it is handled by the one or the other, both are instruments of the international community, and the IAEA isn't being taken off the Iranian question. The proof is that the board is going to be meeting, as you know, and there's an IAEA report that's been prepared for it. So the IAEA hasn't relinquished the matter. It's just that it was agreed with Mr. Lavrov in Paris, on July 12, that we would work on a resolution, 1696, and that if at a certain point it appeared that Iran was not complying with its obligations, especially to the IAEA, at that point we would have to move on to the Security Council phase, which doesn't mean, I repeat, that the matter has been taken away from the IAEA.

In our view, there's no contradiction between the two, The fact that it's being dealt with at a given point by the Security Council doesn't mean that the IAEA has relinquished it. The IAEA will of course retain a very important role in order to continue to inform IAEA member countries, and this will be the central element, it's clear, in any solution in this matter. If there is a solution one day, it will obviously have to be very largely guaranteed by the IAEA.

Q: In the circumstances, are you even more worried after the recent discovery of traces of enriched uranium in Iran beyond what was expected, and by the IAEA inspectors' statement that Iran is still refusing to cooperate in certain areas?

A: We have read the IAEA report which was sent to us by the IAEA director-general and confirms that Iran has continued and even speeded up its enrichment program since August, that Iran has installed a second cascade of centrifuges, that Iran is still denying the IAEA access to certain critical sites and also still refusing to answer a number of questions, the so-called pending questions, which the IAEA submitted some time ago.

The Agency itself concludes that it is not possible for it to confirm the peaceful nature of the Iranian nuclear program. You ask if we are worried. We have taken note of this report and the conclusions the IAEA draws. This strengthens our idea: it is essential for the Security Council to enter into the picture and take measures against Iran..