Philip Hammond and Laurent Fabius, respectively the top diplomats of Britain and France, called for Iran to submit to verification of its nuclear program to ensure that it is peaceful, Agence France-Presse reported yesterday.

“Britain wants a robust and verifiable deal with Iran that ensures that its nuclear programme in the future is exclusively civil,” Hammond said after talks in Luxembourg with his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif, Fabius, Germany’s Frank-Walter Steinmeier and EU foreign affairs head Federica Mogherini. …

“There is a lack of trust on both sides and only full verification… to confirm that both sides are in compliance with their agreements is going to regenerate that trust in the future.”

Fabius added, “A robust agreement is one which includes an extensive verification element, including if necessary visits to military sites and automatic re-introduction of sanctions if Iran violates the accord.”

The statements from Hammond and Fabius come a week after American Secretary of State John Kerry indicated that Iran would not have to come clean about its past nuclear work in advance of a nuclear agreement. Kerry made his remarks despite concerns that United States does not have “absolute knowledge” of all aspects of Iran’s nuclear program.

According to Omri Ceren, The Israel Project’s senior advisor for strategy, understanding the full extent of Iran’s past nuclear work and having access to military sites are “prerequisite[s] to verifying Iranian compliance across all issues.” The Israel Project publishes The Tower.

[Photo: Foreign and Commonwealth Office / Flickr ]