AFP
Sunday, December 24, 2006
France on Sunday warned Iran it risked "total isolation"
over its defiant decision to expand uranium enrichment in the
wake of the imposition of UN sanctions.
"I can't think for an instant that all the Iranian authorities
have decided on total isolation of their country. I think that,
to the contrary, it would be in their interest to turn towards
negotiation," Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy told
France Inter radio.
He noted that the UN Security Council had acted "in a united
manner" to pass its resolution Saturday against Iran, imposing
sanctions on its nuclear industry and ballistic missile programmes.
Iran responded Sunday by saying it would install 3,000 uranium
enriching centrifuges at a key nuclear plant to reinforce its
controversial nuclear programme.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad dismissed the UN resolution
as just a "scrap of paper" and declared Iran "is
a nuclear country".
Douste-Blazy told the French radio station: "Unanimity and
firmness will lead to the isolation of this country, even if Iran
doesn't understand that."
He warned Iran not to enter into that "spiral", and,
later on a visit to the southwest city of Toulouse in France,
he called on Tehran to "return to reason".
He added: "The ball is now on Iran's court -- either it
accepts negotiations, as France wants, or else it will isolate
itself."
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