Fabius meets Iranian counterpart to discuss nuclear file

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius met Friday with his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif to discuss "principally the nuclear file," an official statement said.
The French Foreign Ministry said that the talks were a precursor to the resumption of international discussions between the P5+1 group of nations and Iran next week in Geneva.
Discussions between the US, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany, and the Iranian side are to kick off January 18 and have a deadline of next June to come to an agreement.
Fabius took this opportunity to remind his Iranian counterpart that "France seeks an agreement guaranteeing the exclusively peaceful finality of the Iranian nuclear programme, the Foreign Ministry said.
France has said many times that it would never accept the development of atomic weapons by Iran, a position shared by the international community. Iran has been placed under UN, European Union and individual nation sanctions because of the lack of progress over its controversial nuclear programme. But Tehran denies any intent to develop a nuclear weapon and maintains its programme is purely for civil nuclear purposes, a claim a number of Western nations have doubted.
The two ministers addressed the outstanding issues that remain to be resolved, among them several important questions that relate to uranium enrichment and inspections of Iranian facilities, among other.