France Voices Doubt on Iran Nuclear Deal

PARIS—France's foreign minister voiced doubts that Western powers will reach a final nuclear deal with Iran, questioning Tehran's willingness to abandon its ability to build an atomic bomb.

Laurent Fabius has propelled France to the forefront of nuclear talks by taking a tough stance on Iran, which insists its nuclear program is for civilian and scientific use only.

To reach a lasting agreement, Western powers are pressing Tehran to adopt measures that unwind its nuclear capabilities to the point that a weapon is no longer within reach.

That goal has been partly overshadowed by disagreements over how to implement a preliminary accord that temporarily freezes Iran's nuclear program in exchange for limited relief from biting sanctions.

"We have to implement honestly the first phase," Mr. Fabius said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.

"Then my main concern is the second phase. It is unclear if the Iranians will accept to definitively abandon any capacity of getting a weapon or only agree to interrupt the nuclear program."

Mr. Fabius played a central role in toughening terms of the first deal with Iran.

His warning that world powers risked being drawn into a "fool's game" by Iran nearly derailed the talks in November.

Mr. Fabius said Western powers need to focus their efforts on how to deprive Iran of "breakout capacity," the ability to restart a bomb-making program from dormant nuclear sites and make a quick dash to a weapon before world powers can react.

"What is at stake is to ensure that there is no breakout capacity," Mr. Fabius said.

His remarks, at this pivotal stage in international negotiations, reflect the challenges in securing a final deal with Iran.

Some U.S. officials have also grown skeptical in the weeks since Secretary of State John Kerry helped strike the preliminary deal with Iran in Geneva.

President Barack Obama said recently that he didn't think the likelihood of a long term deal was "more than 50-50."

Nonetheless, U.S. officials have left little doubt they are eager to find a way to reach a final deal with Iran and international powers, saying that without one, Iran would lurch even closer to a break-out capability and bring the region nearer to war.

"Not even trying for a deal, I think, would be a dire mistake," Mr. Obama said Dec. 7 in Washington.

Tehran has long defended what it says is its right to enrich uranium and to build nuclear reactors. Western nations say those capabilities clear the way for Iran to produce fuel for an atomic bomb.

On Nov. 24, Iran reached the interim agreement with the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and Germany, a diplomatic bloc known as the P5+1. The accord relaxes economic sanctions on Iran in return for freezing its nuclear activities.

Those measures were intended to build confidence between the parties while they pursue a final agreement.

Since then, however, Iran and Western powers have been at loggerheads over how to implement the accord.

Iran lashed out at the U.S. last week for adding companies and individuals to its sanctions blacklist, a move Washington said complied with the interim agreement.

Much of the impasse stems from disagreements over which side—Iran or the West—should take the first steps.

"One of the biggest questions of this accord is when and how it will be implemented," said Behzad Azarsa, an economic adviser at Iran's Embassy in France.

He said he expected these issues and other related matters to be cleared up in coming meetings.

Last week, Iran protested the additions to the U.S. blacklist by suspending talks aimed at resolving differences over how to implement the interim accord. Those negotiations are expected to resume on Thursday, according to the European Union.

Under the preliminary deal, the EU and U.S. agreed to ease some sanctions on Iran's petrochemicals sector and scrapped a ban on trade in precious metals. The U.S. agreed to unfreeze some $4.2 billion in Iranian oil revenue held abroad. The EU agreed to ease financial transfers to Iran for permitted trade.

Mr. Fabius said France and other EU countries won't begin to relax sanctions until the International Atomic Energy Agency has inspected Iranian nuclear sites to verify Tehran has suspended the program.

Under the accord, inspectors are authorized to make daily rounds at the facilities, but those checks have yet to begin, according to Western and Iranian officials.

"The inspections must technically start before we lift," said Mr. Fabius. The early scrutiny ensures Tehran upholds its end of the deal as sanctions are eased and the talks advance, Western officials said.

Mr. Fabius said he was working toward a final agreement that is tougher, tightening inspections and reining in Iran's stockpile of uranium and its ability to process new fuel.

France is a longtime skeptic of Tehran's nuclear program. A decade ago, France helped negotiate a deal with Iran to halt its nuclear program only to see Tehran back out of the agreement years later.

"What we have to do is act in such a way that cheating is in practice impossible," Mr. Fabius said.

Corrections & Amplifications
Iran is in nuclear talks with a group comprising the U.S., U.K., France, Russia, China and Germany. An earlier version of this article incorrectly suggested six Western powers were involved in the talks.

WSJ.com