Iran scorns French warning of war

BBC, 17 September

Bernard Kouchner said a nuclear-armed Iran would be a grave threat
A warning by France's foreign minister that the world should prepare for war over Iran's nuclear programme has drawn an angry response from Iran.

Iran's foreign ministry said the remark had damaged the credibility of France, while the official Iranian news agency accused Paris of aping Washington.

On Sunday France's Bernard Kouchner said: "We have to prepare for the worst, and the worst is war."

Meanwhile, the top UN nuclear official said force should be a last resort.

At a conference of the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), in Austria, Mohamed ElBaradei said he saw no clear and present danger, and that talk of force was counter-productive.


The occupants of the Elysee have become
the executors of the will of the White House


Iran denies it is trying to acquire nuclear weapons, and says it only wants nuclear power to generate electricity for civilian purposes.

But it has repeatedly rejected UN demands to give up the enrichment of uranium, which the US and other Western states fear is being diverted to a nuclear weapons project.

'Inflammatory'

Mr Kouchner said negotiations with Iran should continue, but that an Iranian nuclear weapon would pose "a real danger for the whole world".


Iran says its nuclear programme is peaceful


He said a number of large French companies had been asked not to tender for business in Iran.

Iranian official media responded with contempt.

"The occupants of the Elysee (the French presidential palace) have become the executors of the will of the White House and have adopted a tone that is... even more inflammatory and more illogical than that of Washington," IRNA news agency said.

Mr Kouchner was visiting Russia on Monday, where he was expected to push for tighter UN sanctions to try to force Iran to give up enrichment.

Russia has a UN Security Council veto over any new sanctions, and its support is seen as vital for any new approach.

On Monday Mr Kouchner said even in the absence of UN action, the European Union should prepare its own sanctions against Iran.

Following talks in Paris, his Dutch counterpart Maxime Verhagen said his government would be willing "to apply EU sanctions in common with the United States sanctions".

Iran has warned that any new punishments could push it to stop co-operating with the IAEA.