France thanks the director-general of the IAEA and his teams for this new report which attests to the Agency's efforts to shed light on Iran's past and present nuclear activities.

The report shows that Iran, under pressure from the international community, has provided new information in response to questions from the IAEA. But major uncertainties remain, in particular on activities that 'could have a military nuclear dimension' which the Agency rightly terms a 'matter of serious concern'.

The Agency sets out these activities in detail, some of which it considers could be part of 'research and development activities for nuclear weapons'. It consequently emphasizes in its report that it is not in a position to determine the true nature of Iran's nuclear program.

Other complementary information given by Iran raises new questions. The Agency was able to visit new sites where 'new generation' centrifuges are being tested; this means an accelerated program of centrifugation whereas these considerable efforts to develop these highly sensitive technologies have no rationale in civilian use.

As the IAEA director-general recalls, it is essential for Iran to comply with all the demands of the international community expressed by the IAEA Board of Governors and UN Security Council, and to restore confidence in the exclusively peaceful nature of its nuclear program; the Agency is not in a position to attest to it today.

This requires Iran to give clear, complete and precise answers to questions about its past and present nuclear activities and to give the IAEA the means to verify its answers by the implementation of the Additional Protocol and the other measures of transparency demanded by the Agency. It also implies suspending its enrichment, heavy water and reprocessing related activities as demanded by the IAEA Board of Governors and Security Council.

Our preference is for dialogue and negotiations to resolve the Iranian nuclear problem. We therefore call again on Iran to comply with its international obligations and to permit at last, through the suspension of its sensitive activities, negotiations to start which we earnestly desire.