French President Jacques Chirac on Wednesday urged Iran to cooperate "in a constructive way" with European countries and the UN's nuclear watchdog, during talks here with the visiting Iranian foreign minister.Chirac "expressed France's wish that the dialogue begun between the three European countries (Germany, France and Britain) and Iran continues in a constructive way," the president's spokeswoman Catherine Colonna said.
Chirac also stressed the importance "of continuing the implementation of commitments taken at the IAEA", the International Atomic Energy Agency.
He mentioned among others those on transparency and inspections, she said.
"He underlined that Iran's response will determine the assessment to be done by the IAEA's board of governors in mid-June," Colonna added.
Iran's foreign minister, Kamal Kharazi, said that "Iran was doing everything it could to cooperate with the IAEA and that it was due to transmit its report to the IAEA in mid-May," she said.
Iran last year was severely reprimanded by the IAEA for failing to reveal a full account of its nuclear activities including its research into second generation P2 centrifuges that are capable of enriching uranium to weapons grade.
But last December, Iran bowed to international pressure by signing up to an additional protocol to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), allowing a tougher IAEA probe.
All rights reserved. Copyright 2003 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.
Quick Links
SpaceWar
Search SpaceWar
Subscribe To SpaceWar Express
