Iran - Sanctions
Syria – France’s action
Iran - Sanctions
Yesterday, President Sarkozy sent a letter to his German, British, American, Canadian and Japanese counterparts, as well as to the President of the European Council and the President of the European Commission recommending new sanctions of unprecedented magnitude in order to convince Iran that it must now make the strategic choice to enter into genuine negotiations and to fulfill its international obligations.
President Sarkozy notably proposed immediately freezing the assets of Iran’s central bank, as well as suspending purchases of Iranian oil.
Iran has been pursuing an illegal nuclear program and developing a military nuclear capability for more than 10 years now, as the IAEA has just shown. Iran is conducting these activities in violation of its international obligations, notably under the non-proliferation regime. As a reminder, the international Security Council has adopted six resolutions on the Iranian nuclear issue; the IAEA Board of Governors has adopted 11 resolutions.
The Board of Governors expressed its “deep and growing concern” regarding this issue in a new resolution adopted by an overwhelming majority on Friday, November 18.
Once again, we urge Iran to shed full light on its sensitive nuclear activities, to immediately and unconditionally cooperate with the IAEA and to heed the message addressed to it by the international community.
The measures announced by several close partners of France respond to the attitude of Iran, which is accelerating its nuclear program, rejecting negotiations, and condemning its people to increasing economic and political isolation. Obviously, we are working in close cooperation with our partners toward implementing the measures proposed by President Sarkozy yesterday, notably in preparation for the EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting on December 1, and the European Council meeting on December 8.
We’re engaging in continuous consultations with our partners – with the partners that the President wrote to, all our EU partners of course, as well as our Gulf partners. You will have noted that the Minister is currently visiting this region; its countries are extremely concerned by the threat posed by Iran.
Upcoming events include the next EU meetings (December 1 and December 8). As for the rest, you will be notified, as always, in good time.
What diplomatic tools is France considering in order to establish effective international cooperation, given that Russia and China are proving to be a stumbling block with respect to the Syrian issue?
I use the term “responsibility” a great deal. There are two ways to tackle the problem. We can either look away from, close our ears, to what’s happening or we can get involved.
We’ve chosen the second path. We want to be involved because we believe that certain values upon which our country is founded and which have formed the backbone of our foreign policy for years are at stake in Syria.
Diplomacy requires effort, sweat, tears, and often leads to the temptation to give up. That’s not the way French diplomacy works; it’s based on responsibility, mobilization, action. We know that the reality on the ground is difficult, but we take action.
We firstly take action by denouncing, right from the outset, what’s happening. Nothing could be worse for the Syrian people than the international community’s silence. Voices are being raised; France has been speaking out from the outset.
We’re working a great deal with our European partners. We’re on the 9th round of sanctions and we’re planning a 10th round.
We mobilized our efforts at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva and we’ve continuously denounced what’s happening in Syria to the entire international community; this resulted in the establishment of an international commission of inquiry on the human rights situation which will issue its report tomorrow.
Lastly, we mobilized our efforts at the United Nations. We’ve tried to do so at the Security Council, but so far without success. We’re therefore trying to take action at the UN General Assembly. A UN General Assembly resolution will likely be adopted. You’ll see how many countries pass it. It means that everyone is aware of the situation in Syria and condemns it, and that we’ve been able to make the international community aware of the tragedy that is taking place in Syria.
France is also engaging in diplomatic efforts with the countries of the region. Alain Juppé was in Turkey a few days ago and he discussed the situation in Syria in detail with his meeting partners in Ankara and Istanbul. The Arab League countries are also mobilized and we’re working with them in order to move things forward.
International relations and diplomacy are never easy. It may be easy to do nothing. But taking action is worth the trouble since we always manage to move things forward.