Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the French-Iranian collaboration on uranium enrichment through SOFIDIF, and its relationship with the P5+1 group progress towards an agreement with Iran on the Iranian nuclear programme.

The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) and Areva, a French company, jointly own Société franco–iranienne pour l’enrichissement de l’uranium par diffusion gazeuse (SOFIDIF). SOFIDIF in turn has an interest in a uranium enrichment facility in France. The collaboration between AEOI and Areva pre-dates the 1979 Revolution in Iran. We do not believe it has a bearing on P5+1 talks with Iran.