France: Agreement with Iran Must Prevent Tehran from Acquiring Nuclear Bomb

One day after the halt of the Islamic Republic's nuclear negotiations with the West in Lausanne, Switzerland, France stated that any agreement with Iran must be 'strong enough' to prevent the Islamic Republic from obtaining a nuclear bomb. Laurent Fabius, the French Foreign Minister, said on Saturday, March 21, 2015, to Radio Europe 1: 'France seeks a strong agreement that can genuinely guarantee Iran can have peaceful nuclear energy, not a nuclear bomb.' In this context, Reuters reported that France is calling for stricter limitations on Iran's nuclear program in any potential nuclear agreement with the Islamic Republic. Meanwhile, the U.S. National Security Council announced on Twitter that President Barack Obama and his French counterpart Francois Hollande discussed the nuclear agreement with Iran and the situation in Ukraine over the phone on Friday. France is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council with veto power and is one of the members of the 5+1 group negotiating with the Islamic Republic. The country had previously warned that it would 'continue to pressure Iran regarding its nuclear program and will always stand by Israel.' Francois Hollande had earlier stated that France has four conditions for a potential nuclear agreement with the Islamic Republic: 'Iran's 20% uranium enrichment must be halted, all of Iran's nuclear facilities must be under international control, Iran's enriched uranium stockpiles must be reduced, and the activities of the Arak heavy water facility must be stopped.' Iran, France, the United States, the United Kingdom, China, Russia, and Germany are set to resume one of their most sensitive rounds of nuclear negotiations in Switzerland on Wednesday, March 25.