Israel Prods France to Stick to Guns on Iran Nuclear Talks

Standing Strong: French President Francois Hollande has taken a tougher line than other Western powers on Iran. Israel wants him to stick to his guns. Image by getty images
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pressed France on Friday not to weaken in its stance toward Iran in upcoming talks on the Islamic state’s nuclear programme, days before President Francois Hollande is due to visit Israel.
Iran has accused France of blocking agreement last week at talks between Tehran and six world powers in Geneva. Iran is seeking relief from international sanctions, while the six demand curbs in its nuclear activities, including enrichment of uranium.
Hollande travels to Israel on Tuesday for the first time since his election 18 months ago, a visit aides say will focus on the next round of talks in Geneva starting on Wednesday.
“We hope that France will not weaken,” Netanyahu told Le Figaro daily in an interview. “We salute (Hollande’s) consistent and determined position on the Iranian issue.”
Netanyahu reiterated his government’s opposition to Iran pursuing any research that could lead to the development of a nuclear weapon, saying it should not possess heavy water reactors or centrifuges used to enrich radioactive material. Tehran says it wants nuclear energy for electricity, not bombs.
Hollande has opposed lifting any economic sanctions on Iran until it provides further guarantees. He is also due to tell Netanyahu that he opposes the further building of Israeli settler homes in the occupied West Bank, Hollande’s aides said.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has condemned the construction of new homes on disputed land that Palestinians want as part of a future state, and pressed Israel and the Palestinian Authority to strike a lasting peace accord.
“It is not the construction of homes that is preventing peace,” Netanyahu told Le Figaro. “It is a problem that must be solved, but it is not the cause of the conflict.”
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
2X match on all Passover gifts!
Most Popular
- 1
News A Jewish Republican and Muslim Democrat are suddenly in a tight race for a special seat in Congress
- 2
Fast Forward The NCAA men’s Final Four has 3 Jewish coaches
- 3
Film & TV What Gal Gadot has said about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
- 4
Fast Forward Cory Booker proclaims, ‘Hineni’ — I am here — 19 hours into anti-Trump Senate speech
In Case You Missed It
-
News Who would protect New York Jews better? Cuomo and Lander trade attacks on the campaign trail
-
News Rabbis revolt over LGBTQ+ club, exposing fight over queer acceptance at Yeshiva University
-
Opinion In Qatargate fiasco, Netanyahu’s ‘witch hunt’ narrative takes cues from Trump
-
Yiddish די הגדה ווי אַ לעבעדיקער דענקמאָל פֿון אַשכּנזישער פּאָעזיעThe Haggadah as a living monument to Ashkenazi poetry
אַמאָל זענען די פּייטנים, מיסטישע דיכטער־וויזיאָנערן, געווען אויבן־אָן בײַ די פֿראַנצויזישע און דײַטשישע ייִדן.
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.