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 UN set August 31 as the date for Iran to halt all uranium enrichment, failing which the country would be subject to international sanctions. But the foreign minister has warned in a interview on RTL against a confrontation between Teheran, the Muslim world, and the West. Do the positions of the six powers concur or are there differences? We'd like to know clearly what France's position is on this issue.
A: France's position was stated by the minister this morning. Our position is that of the international community. It's resolution 1696 which was adopted on July 31, as you know, and presents Iran with a number of demands, gives it a timeframe to meet these demands and also stipulates that there will be a report from the IAEA director-general on Iran's implementation of the measures requested. This is our common point of reference. There's also paragraph 8 of this resolution on the measures that could be taken if Iran fails to comply with the international community's demands.
What the minister said this morning is that we're not in a spirit of confrontation with Iran. There's probably still some room between now and August 31. There's still a possibility for dialogue and contacts. As the minister himself said, our hand is still reaching out. There's still the possibility of revisiting these questions.
Q: Is a Security Council meeting possible or being considered on Iran?
A: I don't have details of the calendar on Iran. It's not been ruled out that technical contacts might be established with the Iranians. It's likely there'll be consultations among the six countries that met in Paris in July. Then we'll see what the Security Council calendar looks like. It's a little early to say.
Q: What do you mean by "technical contacts" with the Iranians?
A: It is a possibility in coming days, if it's considered useful on both sides, that there may be technical contacts allowing us to clarify certain aspects of the document that was presented by Iran.
Q: We know the US administration proposed the idea of sanctions on Iran on August 22, the day the response was received. Yesterday the Americans said that the Iranians had until August 31 to respond before we moved on to sanctions in the Security Council. At the same time the Russians said that the idea of sanctions today was premature and that sanctions didn't work. Where does France stand in the event there's no answer from the Iranians after August 31?
A: We're abiding by what was said here in Paris on July 12 at the meeting of the six and what it says in paragraph 8 of SCR 1696. It's the agreement of the international community. On August 31 we'll see where we are, and at that point it will probably be necessary for the international community to confer, in light of the existing texts and particularly SCR 1696, which is our common point of reference on the Iranian questions.