France's FM: Iran Is Building Nuclear Weapons Capacity

Hours ago, France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian stated that Iran is building nuclear weapons capacity, affirming that Tehran and Washington must return to a 2015 nuclear agreement.

“The Trump administration chose what it called the maximum pressure campaign on Iran,” Le Drian said during an interview with du Dimanche newspaper. “The result was that this strategy only increased the risk and the threat.”

“This has to stop because Iran and - I say this clearly - is in the process of acquiring nuclear (weapons) capacity,” Le Drian stressed.

The agreement aimed at granting Iran the time needed to produce enough fissile material for a nuclear bomb, if it so chose, to at least a year from roughly two to three months, in addition to lifting international sanctions against Tehran.

Moreover, western diplomats have said that Iran’s repeated breaches have already reduced the “breakout time” to well below a year.

With presidential elections in Iran due in June, Le Drian asserted that it was urgent to “tell the Iranians that this is enough” and to bring Iran and the United States back into the accord.

On his part, President-elect Joe Biden has said he will return the United States to the deal if Iran resumes strict compliance with it, while Iran affirmed that sanctions must be lifted before it reverses its nuclear breaches.

Nonetheless, the French Minister stated that even if both sides were to return to the deal, it would not be enough.

“Tough discussions will be needed over ballistic proliferation and Iran’s destabilization of its neighbours in the region,” he said.

The United States imposed sanctions on companies which do business with the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines and on three other entities over conventional arms proliferation, which was the last decision in a series of measures aimed at placing more pressure on Tehran in the final days of President Donald Trump’s administration.