French Minister Admits Iran’s Enrichment Right

“There can be some enrichment, provided it is limited and not used for military purposes,” Fabius said in an interview with The Washington Post published on Friday.

Fabius also expressed the hope that the ongoing nuclear negotiations between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany could ultimately lead to political solution.

“I hope we can find a solution. Everybody would be happy with a situation in which there was no longer a nuclear menace. But our position is simple: Civil nuclear energy, yes. Atomic bomb, no. It is very clear.”

"Referring back to the negotiations we had, my position was to say we want to have an agreement, but it has to be a solid one. At a preliminary stage, it wasn’t solid enough. So we had discussions — the P5+1. We decided on a common position. The Iranians said no in the first round. Then 10 days later, they turned around and said okay."

His remarks came as the French minister had dashed the hopes that a deal would be hammered out during the talks before Iran and the Group 5+1 (the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany) could reach an interim nuclear agreement in the Swiss city of Geneva back in November 2013.

Later, the French foreign minister came under fire for playing 'bad cop' in the Geneva talks.

Iran which is a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, also known as NPT, has constantly rejected the allegations raised by the US and its allies that it is after nuclear weapons.

Tehran says it needs the nuclear technology for peaceful purposes including generating electricity.

Delegations representing Iran and the G5+1 (also known as P5+1 or E3+3) wrapped up the latest round of their nuclear talks in the Austrian capital of Vienna on April 9.

The negotiating parties are slated to convene the next meeting on May 13, again in Vienna, to start drafting the text of an ultimate deal on Tehran’s peaceful nuclear program.