The French foreign minister, Laurent Fabius, whose country has taken a tough stance in the ongoing nuclear negotiations with Iran, has said that France will not sign off on a deal if Tehran rules out inspections of its military sites as part of the final agreement.
“France will not accept a deal if it is not clear that inspections can be done at all Iranian installations, including military sites,” Fabius told the national assembly in Paris on Wednesday, urging other negotiating partners to adopt a similar position.
His comments came a week after Iran’s supreme leader, ayatollah Ali Khamenei, made clear that he would not allow the Iranian negotiating team to accept inspections of military sites or questioning of the country’s nuclear scientists.
The dispute over the inspection of military sites shows how much distance remains between the two sides before they can reach a comprehensive agreement, but whether it will jeopardise an overall deal depends on how much diplomats are prepared to compromise at the last minute.
“We have already said that we will not allow any inspections of military sites by foreigners,” the ayatollah said last week. “They also say that we must allow interviews with nuclear scientists. This is interrogation. I will not allow foreigners to come and talk to scientists who have advanced the science to this level.”
Fabius said: “Yes to an agreement, but not to an agreement that will enable Iran to have the atomic bomb. That is the position of France, which is independent and peaceful.”
Iran and world’s six major powers, which also include the US, China, Russia, Britain and Germany, reached a tentative agreement on the framework of a comprehensive deal in April. Under its terms, restrictions will be placed on Iran’s enrichment of uranium so that it is unable to use the material in nuclear weapons. In return, the US and EU will terminate all nuclear-related economic sanctions on Iran once the UN nuclear agency confirms that Iran has complied.
Talks resumed in the Austrian capital, Vienna, on Wednesday for resolving the remaining issues concerning the final agreement, which was initially expected to be reached by the end of June, but diplomats have since said that the self-imposed deadline could be extended.
“We are not bound by time, but we are committed to this issue that a good agreement with details that are favourable to us is hammered out, even if it may take a long time,” said Abbas Araqchi, a senior Iranian negotiator, according to the Iranian state-run Press TV. In Vienna, he was due to meet with the EU deputy secretary-general, Helga Schmid.
The French ambassador to the US, Gérard Araud, tweeted on Tuesday: “Our goal is to get an agreement by the deadline. Likely that Iran will wait for the last days for compromising, like in March.”
According to Yukiya Amano, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the additional protocol of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty that Iran has agreed to implement would give the agency the right to request inspections of all nuclear facilities, including military sites.
It is not clear from the ayatollah’s comments whether Tehran would accept conditional inspection of its military sites. Earlier this week, Araqchi was quoted as saying that his country was prepared to grant “managed access” to military sites, but denied that statement later.
