PARIS (JTA) — Iran’s nuclear goals are military, and the country could have a nuclear bomb in two to three years, a French Foreign Affairs Commission said.
After the report was published Wednesday, the Socialist Party lawmaker who led the commission, Jean-Louis Bianco, told the French daily Le
Figaro he was "certain" Iran’s nuclear goals were military. "Tehran possesses nuclear bomb plans, which were without a doubt obtained thanks to Pakistani channels," he said. The report showed Iran has "a bomb miniaturization program," he said.
The commission gathered evidence over the course of a year from military, political and intelligence officials from France, Israel and Iran, among others.
Earlier this month, French president Nicolas Sarkozy said he would not sit beside an Iranian leader who "dares say Israel should be wiped from the map."
On Thursday, Likud Party leader Benjamin Netanyahu met with Sarkozy to insist on the dire global threat of a nuclear-armed Iran and to discuss plans for Israeli-Palestinian peace. Later in the day, Netanyahu told an audience hosted by the French Jewish community umbrella group CRIF that he believed Sarkozy was clear on the risks at stake.
Netanyahu also said France and the United States are in an unprecedented position to pressure Iran, because of those countries’ strength and Iran’s weaknesses due to the global drop in oil prices.
"We are at a historic crossroads," Netanyahu said.
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