Iran Focus: Paris, Jul. 13 Frances former Prime Minister Edith Cresson urged Paris to adopt a firm policy on Iran in the wake of the consolidation of power in the hands of the ultra-conservative faction in the Islamic Republic. Speaking at a conference on Tuesday attended by 300 political dignitaries, nuclear and terrorism experts, and representatives of non-governmental organisations, the former prime minister and European Union commissioner said, “Today, we are witnessing extremists seize all the levers of power in Iran. I think that it is time to adopt a firm policy vis-à-vis the Ayatollahs in this country. Iran Focus
Paris, Jul. 13 Frances former Prime Minister Edith Cresson urged Paris to adopt a firm policy on Iran in the wake of the consolidation of power in the hands of the ultra-conservative faction in the Islamic Republic.
Speaking at a conference on Tuesday attended by 300 political dignitaries, nuclear and terrorism experts, and representatives of non-governmental organisations, the former prime minister and European Union commissioner said, “Today, we are witnessing extremists seize all the levers of power in Iran. I think that it is time to adopt a firm policy vis-à-vis the Ayatollahs in this country. Uranium enrichment should be considered a red line in the negotiations with Tehran which should not be crossed. Any concession in this regard will have catastrophic consequences. The policy of the European Union did not achieve any of its desired objectives. It is now time for the EU to adopt a firmer policy vis-à-vis Iran.
The conference, entitled “The elections in Iran and their consequences in the world”, was organised by the “International Study and Research Centre on Terrorism, chaired by Yves Bonnet, a former member of Parliament who was director of Frances counter-terrorism agency, DST, under the late President Francois Mitterrand.
Cresson said France should place itself on the side of the Iranian people and support democratic change in Iran”.
Bonnet, reflecting on President-elect Mahmoud Ahmadinejads victory, put the question, “In the past 26 years, did Iran go through reform? Looking at their development of weapons of mass destruction, internal repression, and support for international terrorism, the Iranian government reformed neither their policy nor their methods”.
Bonnet offered a grim assessment of the human right situation in Iran, and said, “Iran sees terrorism as part of its strategy”.
Iranian opposition leader Maryam Rajavi said in a message to the conference that the rise to power of a terrorist in Tehran and the recent terrorist attacks in London, while independent phenomena, were inter-related in the sense that they tell us once again that the main global threat, as the Iranian Resistance had been saying since the 1990s, is indeed Islamic fundamentalism and the terrorism emanating from it.
The heart of Islamic fundamentalism beats in Iran under mullahs rule, now the sole state sponsor of terrorism in the world, she said.
Two Iranian scientists, Dr. Ali-Reza Assar, a former nuclear adviser to the commanders of Irans Revolutionary Guards, and Dr. Manouchehr Fakhimi, an expert in geophysics who made the first discovery of uranium mines in Iran in the 1970s, told the conference that Irans nuclear programme had a military component designed to produce atomic bombs. They also produced scientific reasons to show that the programme, contrary to the official claims by Tehran, could not be a viable electricity generating project.
Several French parliamentarians and political personalities addressed the conference, including Gerard Charasse, a member of the Defence Committee of the National Assembly, Marc Reymann of the ruling UMP party, who sits on the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Assembly, Senator Jean-Pierre Michel, founder of the French Magistrates Union, former deputy François Colcombet, and Yves-Jean Gallas, vice-chairman of the Peace Movement.
Bonnet, summing up, said that the panel believed that it was imperative that Europe removed the name of the main Iranian opposition group, the Peoples Mujahedin from the list of terrorist organisations.
France should support sending Iran to the United Nations Security Council because the mullahs of Iran constitute a serious threat for the whole world, Senator Michel said. Our governments should finally hear wisdom and voice of reason by ceasing their policy of appeasement.
