France says only a few weeks left to save Iran nuclear deal

French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna

© APA | French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna

# 12 July 2022 23:50 (UTC +04:00)

France's new foreign minister said on Tuesday there were only a few weeks before the window of opportunity to revive Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers would close, APA reports citing Reuters.

Speaking to lawmakers, Catherine Colonna said the situation was no longer tenable and accused Iran of using delaying tactics and going back on previously agreed positions during talks in Doha earlier this month, while forging ahead with its uranium enrichment programme.

"There is still a window of opportunity...for Iran to finally decide to accept an accord which it worked to build, but time is passing," Colonna said, warning that if Iran kept on its current trajectory it would be a threshold nuclear arms state.

"Time is passing. Tehran must realise this," she said, adding that the U.S. mid-term elections would make it even harder to seal a deal.

"The window of opportunity will close in a few weeks. There will not be a better accord to the one which is on the table."

Last week, the U.S. envoy for the talks to reinstate the deal said Iran had added demands unrelated to discussions on its nuclear program during the latest talks and had made alarming progress on enriching uranium.

Under the 2015 nuclear pact, Iran limited its uranium enrichment programme, a potential pathway to nuclear weapons, though Tehran says it seeks only civilian atomic energy, in return for a lifting of international sanctions.

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