France slams Kerry over lowered demands on Iran for deal - Dan Lavie and News Agencies

by Dan Lavie and News Agencies

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius: France wants a deal that will prevent other Gulf states from "embarking on nuclear proliferation" • U.K. defense chief: This is certainly better than no deal at all • China: Sides seized "historic opportunity."

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius | Photo credit: Yonantan Sindel

Many of the Western powers involved in the Iranian nuclear talks failed to express satisfaction with the understandings reached with Iran and the West, led by the U.S. 

Officials in France said that even though the U.S. negotiating team headed by Secretary of State John Kerry had lowered its demands on Iran, Iranian government representatives had threatened to leave the table. 

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius on Friday expressed displeasure with the framework reached in Lausanne. In an interview to Radio Europa 1, Fabius said that France had rejected the initial understandings as "not solid enough." He stressed that France wanted a solid deal to prevent other Gulf states, such as Saudi Arabia, "from embarking on nuclear proliferation."

It was Fabius who said mere hours before the announcement that an understanding had been reached that France wanted a strong, dependable deal, but that there were still points that required work, mainly from the Iranian side. 

French President François Hollande underscored that "sanctions that are lifted can be reimposed if the deal is not applied." 

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier called on Israel to examine the understandings reached with Iran closely, clarifying that it was still early to celebrate having reached a deal and expressed hope that Iran would adhere to the terms. "The goal of the deal is to improve security in the Middle East, not worsen it," Steinmeier said. 

British Defense Secretary Michael Fallon insisted that the agreement had the potential to stop the arms race in the Middle East. 

"This is a welcome agreement. It is clearly better than having no deal at all," Fallon said in an interview to BBC Radio 4. 

Fallon also said that Britain wanted to normalize relations with Iran and reopen the British Embassy in the Islamic republic, which has been shuttered since 2011.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi spoke with Kerry this weekend and told him that the framework agreement with Iran could also strengthen Chinese-American ties. 

Wang reportedly told Kerry that the deal reached could be attributed to all sides seizing an historic opportunity through concerted efforts. 

"China and the United States ... maintained good contact with each other during the negotiations, while instilling positive energy into bilateral relations," a statement from China's Foreign Ministry said. 

In the Middle East, the draft deal was welcomed by a number of nations. Officials in Egypt said they were hopeful that "it would lead to regional stability," and Syria said that it saw the understanding as "another Iranian contribution to easing tensions in the region." 

King Salman of Saudi Arabia spoke with U.S. President Barack Obama by telephone and told him that the deal would "bolster stability and security in the region." 

In contrast, the Gulf States are demanding that the U.S. compensate them for the nascent agreement, Channel 10 reported. 

According to the report, a message from Egypt and Saudi Arabia sent through intelligence channels said that they wanted to build their own nuclear reactors for peaceful purposes.

Dan Lavie and News Agencies

Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=24625

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