Chirac urges mullahs of Iran to reconsider

Iranian.ws:

Aug 29, 2005

French President Jacques Chirac stepped up pressure on Iran on Monday to reconsider a European Union offer of incentives in return for a suspension of sensitive nuclear work.

The U.N. Security Council would have to examine the issue if Iran did not cooperate, Chirac said, pressing Tehran to abandon atomic work that both the EU and the United States suspect is a preliminary step towards making nuclear weapons.

"I invite the Iranian authorities to make the choice of cooperation and trust by genuinely looking at this offer and by reverting to their commitments to suspend activities linked to the production of fissile materials," Chirac said in a speech.

Iran rejected the offer earlier this month and resumed some nuclear work in breach of a promise to freeze such activities while talks lasted, prompting the EU trio of Britain, France and Germany to call off a negotiating meeting with the Iranians.

The move to call off the talks, which were envisaged as part of the EU offer, marked a breakdown in two years of negotiations between the EU trio and Iran over its nuclear programme.

Frustrated by Iran resuming uranium conversion at its Isfahan plant earlier this month, the EU is now preparing the road to possible sanctions.