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Iran's Foreign Ministry has criticized French President Nicholas Sarkozy for saying Iran is working on creating nuclear weapons.
In
a statement published by Iran's ISNA news agency Thursday, Foreign
Ministry spokesman Hassan Ghashghavi said the French president's
remarks were in contradiction with the International Atomic Energy
Agency's findings.
He said the comments were politically motivated and far from realistic.
Earlier
this week, Mr. Sarkozy said French intelligence services are certain
Iran is working on nuclear weapons and he raised the possibility of
further sanctions against the nation.
Western nations have
accused Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons, but Iran insists its
nuclear activities are peaceful and not subject to negotiation.
France is scheduled to take part in October 1 talks with Iran, along with the U.S., Britain, Germany, China and Russia.
The
White House says Mr. Obama spoke with President Sarkozy on the phone
Tuesday to discuss ways of bringing Iran into compliance with its
international obligations.
The U.N. Security Council has
imposed three sets of sanctions on Iran for refusing to freeze uranium
enrichment work that has both military and civilian uses.
EU
foreign policy chief Javier Solana said Tuesday Western powers will
maintain their strategy of offering incentives to Iran to suspend
uranium enrichment and threatening further sanctions if Tehran refuses.
In Vienna Tuesday, Iran's nuclear energy chief Ali Akbar Salehi
indicated his government is ready for "deeper cooperation" with United
Nations nuclear inspectors. He did not elaborate and the International
Atomic Energy Agency did not comment.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP.
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