French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy told French television that Iran's nuclear program has a secret military purpose and that there is no other explanation for the world's second largest oil exporting country to develop nuclear energy.
'No civilian nuclear program can explain the Iranian nuclear program,' Douste-Blazy told France 2 Television. 'It is a clandestine military nuclear program.'
Iran continues to deny the accusations. Ali Larijani, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator told Iranian state-run television that 'We want civilian nuclear energy; we don't want to have the bomb.'
Iran resumed uranium enrichment on Wednesday, defying requests by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that it halt all enrichment activities. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad actually visited the Natanz nuclear facility about 150 miles south of Tehran on Wednesday according to Iranian news reports.
The next key date in the Iranian nuclear crises is March 6. At that time, the IAEA is scheduled to present a new report on Iran's nuclear program.
The United States and the European Union have both been outspoken opponents of Iran's nuclear ambitions and have threatened Iran with action by the U.N. Security Council if it does not stop its nuclear program. Thus far, the Iranian government has been defiant and insists it has every right to continue nuclear research for what it insists are peaceful purposes.
