France says Iran's nuclear plan 'cover for military'

French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy today said that Iran’s nuclear programme was a cover for clandestine military activity.

“No civil nuclear programme can explain the Iranian nuclear programme. It is a clandestine military nuclear programme,” Douste-Blazy said on France-2 television.

“The international community has sent a very firm message in telling the Iranians to return to reason and suspend all nuclear activity and the enrichment and conversion of uranium, but they aren’t listening to us,” he said.

Douste-Blazy’s comments come amid an international dispute over Iran’s nuclear activities, which Tehran insists are purely civilian, but which European and US leaders fear are aimed at building nuclear weapons.

The UN Security Council is to consider Iran’s nuclear programme next month.

“Now it’s up to the Security Council to say what it will do, what means it will use to stop, to manage, to halt this terrible crisis of nuclear proliferation caused by Iran,” Douste-Blazy said.

Iran confirmed on Monday that it had resumed small-scale uranium enrichment.