France says Iran must stop nuclear activities

PARIS, Feb 11 (Reuters) Iran must stop nuclear activities before international sanctions can be lifted, French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy today said, after Iran said it was ready to talk but was determined to pursue its programme.

''(Iran) can accept what the international community has said and suspend its sensitive nuclear activities and then we would be ready to suspend our sanctions in the United Nations Security Council,'' Douste-Blazy told France's Radio J.

Asked to respond to comments by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who said earlier today that Iran was ready for talks but would not suspend its activities, Douste-Blazy said: ''It is unacceptable.'' ''We have to be exceedingly clear and very rigorous on this proposition,'' he said.

''What is he asking for?'' Douste-Blazy said.

''He says he is only committing not to introduce material into the centrifuges while they would still be functioning,'' he said. ''That would not in any way meet the demands of the Security Council.'' ''A measure like that would not even be a real pause nor a means for building confidence,'' he said.

Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani had told Germany's Sueddeutsche Zeitung Iran was ready for some compromise but not suspension as a condition for talks.

''There are suggestions that we operate centrifuges which only enrich uranium to a low level to four per cent. That would be one approach. That is not fair, as other countries enrich to higher levels. But we would be open to this concession,'' Larijani said.

Iran has until February 21 to halt uranium enrichment, a process that can make fuel for power stations or, if greatly enriched, material for warheads.

Douste-Blazy also said that France's position on Iran remained unchanged, despite recent controversy over remarks by President Jacques Chirac.

Chirac said in a newspaper interview that one or two Iranian nuclear missiles would not be a major danger because Tehran would be destroyed if they were ever launched. He later retracted the comment.

''The president of the republic only said that if Iran took the military option in the nuclear area, it would be a path leading nowhere at all,'' Douste-Blazy said.

REUTERS SY MIR KP1746