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Tehran with nukes not acceptable: France http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1496635.cms
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
REUTERS
PARIS: The prospect of Iran with a military nuclear capability is unacceptable, French president Jacques Chirac said in an interview with an Egyptian newspaper published on Wednesday.
Chirac, who is due to visit Egypt on Wednesday, also told the state-owned daily al-Ahram that Iran has a worrying missile programme.
"Iran's attitude is a source of worry for the region and the international community,"Chirac said. "Moreover, Iran is following a worrying missiles programme."
The United States, which accuses Tehran of seeking atomic bombs, failed on Tuesday to secure international support for targeted sanctions against Iran and president George W Bush refused to rule out nuclear strikes if diplomacy failed to curb the Islamic Republic's nuclear ambitions.
Tehran denies seeking nuclear weapons and says it is enriching uranium solely to generate electricity.
Chirac said the door was still open for Iran to restart discussions with the international community, as long as it complied with the demands of IAEA and UNSC.
"They must understand that for the international community, the prospect of an Iran with nuclear military capability is unacceptable,"he said.
"We have not issued an invitation to any such individual and at this point have no plans to do so,"he said.
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