France rejects Iran nukes claim

2007-10-29 15:53

Abu Dhabi - French Defence Minister Herve Morin on Monday dismissed comments by the head of the UN atomic watchdog that there was no evidence Iran is building nuclear weapons, saying Paris has evidence to the contrary.

"Our information, matching those of other countries, gives us the opposite feeling," Morin told a news conference in Abu Dhabi at the end of a short visit to the United Arab Emirates.

Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the UN atomic watchdog the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said in an interview with CNN on Sunday that he had no evidence that Iran is building nuclear weapons and accused US leaders of adding "fuel to the fire" with their bellicose rhetoric.

"If ElBaradei is right, then there is no reason for Iran to refuse to authorise IAEA inspection" of its installations, Morin said, wondering "what was hindering such inspection" if Iran's nuclear programme was strictly for civilian purposes.

"What we hope for is that Iran opens its doors" to IAEA's inspectors, he added.

Morin dismissed claims that the standoff between Iran and the international community over Tehran's nuclear programme would lead to war, however.

"The prospect of a war is a prospect which does not exist for France," he said, adding that he hoped pressure from the international community will lead to the Iranian regime suspending uranium enrichment.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner last month raised a few eyebrows when he publicly warned of the risk of war over the Iran nuclear impasse.

"The international pressure has been fruitful with North Korea," Morin said, adding that Paris hopes that such pressure "will have the same effect" on Iran.

- AFP