‘Rouhani played key role in halting 2003 nuclear program’
Former French ambassador to Iran claims the newly elected president advocated shutting down weapons plan
A former French diplomat said Friday that incoming Iranian president Hasan Rouhani was the key force in the successful attempt to bring a program run by the Revolutionary Guards for the production of a nuclear weapon to a halt in late 2003.
In an op-ed to the New York Times, François Nicoullaud, who served as France’s ambassador to Tehran from 2001 to 2005, claimed that “Based on conversations that I had at the time… with high Iranian officials close to the matter, I firmly believe that Rouhani was the main actor in the process” of bringing that weaponization program to a close.
The program’s existence as well as its cessation, Nicoullaud said, were acknowledged by American intelligence services in November 2007, and were later confirmed by the International Atomic Energy Agency. A 2011 report by the IAEA director general stated that “work on the AMAD Plan [i.e. the undeclared nuclear weaponization program] was stopped rather abruptly, pursuant to a ‘halt order’ instruction issued in late 2003 by senior Iranian officials.”
According to Nicoullaud, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei agreed to terminate the program as a result of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s downfall in late 2003, after the US’s invasion of the country.
“The main motive behind Iran’s need for a bomb was gone,” the French diplomat explained.
Nicoullaud went on to assert that a visit by German, British, and French foreign ministers in October 2003 also prompted the sudden change of heart.
“The risk of having IAEA inspectors find nuclear military activities forbidden by the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty was now too high,” Nicoullaud added.
The French diplomat concluded his opinion piece by stating that, although Rouhani could not publicly take credit for the said acts, the issue may “raise hopes that as president of the Islamic Republic he will be able to find and implement a negotiated solution for the continuing nuclear crisis.”
Rouhani, who will take office in August, is seen by some as a relative moderate who may be more open to negotiate with the West.
Over the past weeks, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has urged the US and the West to raise pressure on Tehran to end its rogue nuclear program.
“There’s a new president in Iran,” Netanyahu said. “He’s criticizing his predecessor for being a wolf in wolf’s clothing. His strategy is to be a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Smile and build a bomb,” Netanyahu said of Rouhani’s approach.