France denounces “the very worrying trajectory” of Tehran

“An unprecedented and extremely serious development.” France denounced, Thursday, March 2, the “very worrying trajectory” of Iran’s nuclear policy. Paris reacts to the publication of a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) evoking particles of uranium enriched to more than 80%, a rate close to the threshold for manufacturing an atomic bomb.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Anne-Claire Legendre stressed that “vsThis report shows a very worrying trajectory of Iran which has no justification”. The IAEA has detected 83.7% enriched uranium particles in Iran, without being able to say at this stage whether this threshold was reached accidentally or deliberately. These particles were discovered following the January collection of samples from the Fordo underground factory.

“Involuntary fluctuations”, defends Iran

Iran, which denies wanting to acquire atomic weapons, has for its part reported “involuntary fluctuations” during the enrichment process, in a letter quoted by the IAEA. The agency’s managing director, Rafael Grossi, has planned to meet Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in Tehran on Saturday to “relaunch the dialogue”.

Depending on the progress made during this trip, the United States and the E3 (United Kingdom, France and Germany) will decide whether or not to submit a draft resolution to the IAEA Board of Governors, scheduled for next week. in Vienna. Iran had already been the subject of a call to order at the last meeting, in November 2022, for its lack of cooperation regarding traces of enriched uranium found at three undeclared sites.