Global Security Newswire

A senior French diplomat said his country would back further measures aimed at isolating Iran over its disputed atomic activities, Interfax reported on Monday (see GSN, March 11).

France, the United States and other countries suspect Iran's nuclear program is geared toward weapons development, but Tehran has insisted its atomic ambitions are strictly peaceful.

Questioned on whether Paris would endorse additional punitive measures against Tehran, French Ambassador to Russia Jean de Gliniasty responded, "Yes, because so far there is no other answer."

Iran has pressed ahead in its uranium enrichment program, which can generate nuclear fuel as well as weapons material, even as it has participated in dialogue on its atomic program over five years, the ambassador said.

"In the past we offered the Iranians a deal many times -- they stop developing uranium and demonstrate transparency, and then we eased the sanctions," the diplomat said.

Iran demonstrated it was not interested in the offer during January discussions in Istanbul with the five permanent Security Council member nations and Germany, the official said.

The Middle Eastern nation established the elimination of previous international penalties as a prerequisite for additional steps, he said. Iran has also sought international approval of its uranium enrichment program, a condition other countries have rejected, the official said (Interfax, March 14).

Meanwhile, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Tuesday played down the likelihood that his nation's Bushehr nuclear power plant could face a disaster akin to the crisis now unfolding in Japan, Agence France-Presse reported (see related GSN story, today).

"We have observed all security measures at the Bushehr nuclear plant," Ahmadinejad said in a television interview. "I don't think there will be any serious problem," he said.

Ahmadinejad added: "The security standards there are the standards of today. We have to take into account that the Japanese nuclear plants were built 40 years ago with the standards of yesterday."

The Bushehr plant had been set to begin producing electricity on April 9, a schedule that appears unlikely to be met after a decision was made recently to remove the fuel rods from the plant's core.

Original work on the facility began in the 1970s. The plant sits at the meeting point of three tectonic plates (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, March 15).