Israel Matzav: Iran nuclear talks could fail... over France?

Iran nuclear talks could fail... over France?

The talks over Iran's nuclear capability could fail because the Iranians refuse to have anything to do with France. Here's why.

Iran had signaled earlier that it might not meet Western demands for a deal under which it would ship most of its enriched material out of the country.

But a more immediate problem Tuesday appeared to be Iranian insistence that France be excluded from any participation in plans to turn the enriched material into fuel for Tehran's research reactor, the diplomats told The Associated Press.

One diplomat - who like the others inside the closed meeting demanded anonymity for discussing confidential information - suggested that the talks could fail unless the problem was resolved.

Iran, which holds a 10 percent share in a Eurodif nuclear plant in France, came to the talks vociferously critical of French President Nicolas Sarkozy's government for withholding enriched uranium from that facility. Areva, the state-run French nuclear company, has described Iran as a sleeping partner in Eurodif, which Tehran bought into more than three decades ago.

[Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki] vowed that Iran would never abandon its "legal and obvious" right to nuclear technology.

"The meetings with world powers and their behavior shows that Iran's right to have peaceful nuclear technology has been accepted by them, Manouchehr Mottaki [told] a news conference. "Iran will never abandon its legal and obvious right [to nuclear technology]."

What could go wrong?

Israel Matzav: Iran nuclear talks could fail... over France?