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Iran Slams ‘Sinister’ Paris Attack Plot against it

Iranian President Rouhani (R) and Foreign Minister Zarif attend a meeting in Hyderabad, India, February 15, 2018. (Reuters)
Iranian President Rouhani (R) and Foreign Minister Zarif attend a meeting in Hyderabad, India, February 15, 2018. (Reuters)
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Iran Slams ‘Sinister’ Paris Attack Plot against it

Iranian President Rouhani (R) and Foreign Minister Zarif attend a meeting in Hyderabad, India, February 15, 2018. (Reuters)
Iranian President Rouhani (R) and Foreign Minister Zarif attend a meeting in Hyderabad, India, February 15, 2018. (Reuters)

Iran stated on Monday that it was prepared to cooperate with the concerned authorities to unravel the “sinister” plot against it in wake of Belgium’s announcement that it had arrested six people, including an Iranian diplomat, on suspicion of plotting an attack against an Iranian opposition meeting in Paris.

"Iran unequivocally condemns all violence & terror anywhere, and is ready to work with all concerned to uncover what is a sinister false flag ploy,” Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted.

The Belgian announcement coincided with the arrival of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to Switzerland on Monday to hold talks with European officials on cooperation with Tehran in wake of the US withdrawal from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

"How convenient: Just as we embark on a presidential visit to Europe, an alleged Iranian operation and its 'plotters' arrested,” added Zarif.

The plotters were planning on targeting a meeting of the Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) - an umbrella bloc of opposition groups in exile that seek an end to clerical rule in Iran.

The NCRI meeting, which attracted a crowd of thousands, took place on Saturday in Villepinte, just outside Paris, a three-hour drive from Brussels.

US President Donald Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani and several former European and Arab ministers attended the meeting.

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French Intelligence Chief: No Certainty on Whereabouts of Iran’s Uranium Stocks

An Iranian national flag is fixed to the arm of a statue at the monument dedicated to the Palestinian struggle in Palestine Square in central Tehran on July 8, 2025, as an anti-Israeli billboard is displayed on the facade of a building depicting the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu with text in Persian and Hebrew reading "Netanyahu lost another war; you fell victim to Bibi's political games; Where will the next failure to stay in power occur?" (AFP)
An Iranian national flag is fixed to the arm of a statue at the monument dedicated to the Palestinian struggle in Palestine Square in central Tehran on July 8, 2025, as an anti-Israeli billboard is displayed on the facade of a building depicting the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu with text in Persian and Hebrew reading "Netanyahu lost another war; you fell victim to Bibi's political games; Where will the next failure to stay in power occur?" (AFP)
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French Intelligence Chief: No Certainty on Whereabouts of Iran’s Uranium Stocks

An Iranian national flag is fixed to the arm of a statue at the monument dedicated to the Palestinian struggle in Palestine Square in central Tehran on July 8, 2025, as an anti-Israeli billboard is displayed on the facade of a building depicting the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu with text in Persian and Hebrew reading "Netanyahu lost another war; you fell victim to Bibi's political games; Where will the next failure to stay in power occur?" (AFP)
An Iranian national flag is fixed to the arm of a statue at the monument dedicated to the Palestinian struggle in Palestine Square in central Tehran on July 8, 2025, as an anti-Israeli billboard is displayed on the facade of a building depicting the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu with text in Persian and Hebrew reading "Netanyahu lost another war; you fell victim to Bibi's political games; Where will the next failure to stay in power occur?" (AFP)

France's intelligence chief said on Tuesday that all aspects of Iran's nuclear program have been pushed back several months after American and Israeli air strikes, but there is uncertainty over where its highly-enriched uranium stocks are.

"The Iranian nuclear program is the material, it is highly-enriched uranium, it is a capacity to convert this uranium from the gaseous phase to the solid phase. It is the manufacturing of the core and it is the delivery," Nicolas Lerner, who heads the DGSE intelligence service, told LCI television.

"Our assessment today is that each of these stages has been very seriously affected, very seriously damaged and that the nuclear program, as we knew it, has been extremely delayed, probably many months."

Lerner, who was speaking for the first time on national television, said a small part of Iran's highly-enriched uranium stockpile had been destroyed, but the rest remained in the hands of the authorities.

"Today we have indications (on where it is), but we cannot say with certainty as long as the IAEA does not restart its work. It's very important. We won't have the capacity to trace it (the stocks)," Lerner said.

Other intelligence assessments have also suggested that Iran retains a hidden stockpile of enriched uranium and the technical capacity to rebuild.

Lerner echoed those comments saying there was a possibility Iran could press ahead with a clandestine program with smaller enrichment capacities.

"That's why France is so attached to finding a diplomatic solution to this nuclear crisis," he said.