One of the important points of her investigation concerns the link between the
Eurodif (
European Gaseous Diffusion Uranium Enrichment Consortium) affair and a series of terrorist acts in France. Eurodif is a
joint stock company created in the 1970s, involved in
uranium enrichment, in which Iran had a 10% share. According to Dominique Lorentz, the (mainly) French-Iranian civil nuclear partnership, started in 1974, dissimulated a military aspect which was supposed to help Iran acquire the
atomic bomb through its investment which guaranteed Tehran
enriched uranium supply. However, after the 1979
Iranian revolution, France ended this cooperation program and blocked Iran's investment. Following this perspective, 1985 and 1986 events such as the
French hostage affair in
Lebanon; bombings in Paris (in the
FNAC store at the
Hôtel de Ville and at Pub Renault); the 17 November 1986 assassination of
Georges Besse (one of the most important responsible of the French nuclear program, who finally became Eurodif's leader) and the February 1987 death of
Michel Baroin, president of the GMF (
Garantie Mutuelle des Fonctionnaires) in a plane crash, were all allegedly part of a terrorist Iranian campaign to blackmail France in order to recover its debt from the Eurodif's investment. The first French payment back to Iran of 330 million dollars was done on the same day that Georges Besse was murdered, and the second one in December 1987, after Michel Baroin's death. On 5 May 1988 the last French hostages from Lebanon arrived in Paris. The first ones had been taken hostage in spring of 1985. The next day,
Matignon published an accord signed by French premier
Jacques Chirac and his Iranian counterpart. Against the return of the last hostages, Paris agreed to accept Tehran back in its share-holder status of Eurodif and to deliver it enriched uranium "without restrictions". On 3 February 1989
Roland Dumas, minister of Foreign Affairs, officially visited Tehran. In September 1989, president
François Mitterrand charged
François Scheer of negotiating an accord putting a definitive end to the Eurodif disagreement. On 29 December 1991 this secret accord was signed by president Mitterrand, definitively reestablishing Iran in its Eurodif's share-holder rights, notably of the right to perceive 10% of the enriched uranium. During this ten-years crisis, Iran acquired various nuclear installations (
reactors, equipment to enrich uranium, etc.) from states such as
Germany,
Argentina,
China or
Pakistan. On 8 January 1995
Russia signed a nuclear cooperation treaty with Iran, concerning in particular the
Bushehr Nuclear Power Facility. Two years later, France signed an accord to deliver enriched uranium to Russia, while the Russian cooperation with Iran was being enforced. == Bibliography ==