French FM’s remarks on Iran N-program, irresponsible: Mehmanparast

Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast has dismissed as irresponsible the recent remarks by the French foreign minister about the Iranian nuclear energy program.

“We considered France an advocate of the role of international organizations and their affiliated institutions, but now it seems that the French government is moving away from its traditional stance in the international arena,” Mehmanparast said on Wednesday.

“There is this question that how can the French foreign minister speak of the danger of Iran obtaining nuclear weapons while completely ignoring the inspections of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) over past years that have rejected any diversion by the Islamic Republic of Iran from peaceful purposes,” Mehmanparast added.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on October 21 that Iran looked to be on course to reaching its goal of producing nuclear weapons by mid-2013.

Fabius said experts, whom he did not identify, “have established in an absolutely indisputable way” that Iran had amassed complete range of centrifuges that “apparently will allow the ability to go toward possession of the nuclear weapon by the first half of next year; the end of the first half.”

Mehmanparast expressed hope that Fabius would not repeat the mistakes of some former French officials who had adopted “radical and unrealistic” stances against Iran.

The United States, Israel and some of their allies have accused Iran of pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program.

Iran rejects the allegations, arguing that as a signatory to Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of IAEA, it is entitled to develop and acquire nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.