France says must prepare for possible war with Iran
Sun Sep 16, 2007 10:10pm BST
By Francois Murphy
PARIS (Reuters) - French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said on Sunday his country must prepare for the possibility of war against Iran over its nuclear programme, but he did not believe any such action was imminent.
Seeking to ratchet up the pressure on Iran, Kouchner also told RTL radio and LCI television that the world's major powers should use further sanctions to show they were serious about stopping Tehran getting atom bombs, and said France had asked French firms not to bid for tenders in the Islamic Republic.
"We must prepare for the worst," Kouchner said in an interview, adding: "The worst, sir, is war."
Asked about the preparations, he said it was normal to prepare for various eventualities.
"We are preparing ourselves by trying to put together plans that are the chiefs of staff's prerogative (but) that is not about to happen tomorrow," he added.
Tehran insists it only wants to master nuclear technology to produce electricity, but it has yet to comply with repeated U.N. demands that it suspend uranium enrichment and other sensitive work that could potentially be used in producing weapons.
Kouchner's comments follow a similarly hawkish statement by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who said last month in his first major foreign policy speech since taking office that a diplomatic push by the world's powers was the only alternative to "an Iranian bomb or the bombing of Iran".
Asked if France was involved in any planning towards war, he said: "The French army is not at the moment associated with anything at all, nor with any manoeuvre at all."
"PEACE IS IN YOUR INTEREST"
France has said repeatedly it wants the U.N. Security Council to pass tougher sanctions against Iran over its failure to dispel fears that it is secretly pursuing nuclear weapons.
"We do not want to signal anything other than 'peace is in your interest, and in ours too,'" Kouchner said, adding that the door should be left open to negotiations with Tehran, but Paris has made a suspension of nuclear work a condition for talks.
The United States, Germany, France and Britain have led a diplomatic drive to punish Iran for refusing to halt its uranium enrichment programme. They succeeded in persuading reluctant Russia and China to back two U.N. sanctions resolutions.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tehran would not give up its nuclear programme.
"Of course we will not abandon our right to nuclear technology," he told state television. "They (the West) talks about imposing sanctions on Iran, but they can not do it."
Washington says the time has to expand the penalties and has called a September 21 meeting of the six powers to discuss a third sanctions resolution to submit to the U.N. Security Council.
Kouchner said France had asked its biggest companies, including oil giant Total and gas firm Gaz de France, not to bid for projects in Iran.
"We have already asked a certain number of our large companies to not respond to tenders, and it is a way of signalling that we are serious," Kouchner said.
"We are not banning French companies from submitting. We have advised them not to. These are private companies. But I think that it has been heard and we are not the only ones to have done this."
In addition, Paris and Berlin were preparing possible European Union economic sanctions against Tehran, Kouchner said.
"We have decided to ... prepare ourselves for possible sanctions outside the U.N. sanctions and which would be European sanctions. Our German friends proposed it. We discussed it a few days ago," Kouchner said.
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The whole argument is stupid. Iran offered full compliance with IAEA inspectors before Ahmadinejad took over and the West refused to even allow the uranium enrichment guaranteed by the NPT. That's what resulted in Iran going more hardline and pulling out (or threatening to, I don't recall if they officially did) of the NPT.
Iran should have the right to enrich uranium to the NPT guaranteed levels (with observation since they are a terrorist sponsor state).
More sanctions are just stupid.
Let's check out what the libs have to say about this.
Remember something. This is France, not the U.S.---
Bush----. People are worried about the ME. Especially
since Syria got some goodies from N. Korea. And
still no one is kicking up a fuss over the bombing.
Oh, I realize that. It's just bluster right now anyway. I wouldn't call it serious until state officials with the other EU big wigs start talking about it other than mentioning "We have to be prepared for the worst", etc.
Wow, they're really taking a hard line now aren't they?
These guys are serious. I mean, they're doing absolutely nothing.The French army is not at the moment associated with anything at all, nor with any manoeuvre at all.
That's something!
France...hmm, France.....where have I seen that name before.....Oh yeah, I remember.
Food for Oil Program. Two-faced liars.
Chump, what in the world are you posting? Who is
frog. Something you dreamed up.
Do you ever take anything really serious. Or are you
just a troll? I have never considered putting anyone on
ignore, but you sure make it an inviting thought.
Yeah, you know, the thing that you keep accusing us for
doing. You know going to war for oil.
"We have already asked a certain number of our large companies to not respond to tenders, and it is a way of signalling that we are serious," Kouchner said.
thats hardcore. i'm putting the french on ignore.
It's a derogatory term for the French.
Am I supposed to be scared by that?Do you ever take anything really serious. Or are you
just a troll? I have never considered putting anyone on
ignore, but you sure make it an inviting thought.
And it is impossible for me to take this French dude seriously. He threw out the dramatic "prepare for war" statement then completely backtracked, saying they weren't going to actually prevent French companies from dealing with Iran and that the French military wasn't doing a damn thing.
This guy said absolutely nothing. To put it in terms you may better understand, it was a troll interview.
I don't know "are you supposed to be scared by that?"
Am I supposed to be scared by that?
And it is impossible for me to take this French dude seriously. He threw out the dramatic "prepare for war" statement then completely backtracked, saying they weren't going to actually prevent French companies from dealing with Iran and that the French military wasn't doing a damn thing.
This guy said absolutely nothing. To put it in terms you may better understand, it was a troll interview.
I could care less. You make no sense. "frog" was shown
as a poster.
Read some damn current events.....
I have never accused the US of any such thing. Dont misassociate me with others on this board. If youre unable to dilineate people, then youre broad-brushing....which makes your opinions even less valid than they already were.
Why do I think the US went into Iraq?
Destabilization for destabilization's sake. Gives the American political scene an ever-present battlefield to point to and say "Look, we are at war! Sacrifices must be made!"
Maybe oil, too. But I think thats just a profitable byproduct of the true motives. A never-ending battlefield upon which Washington can trumpet the impending doom of the US, thereby paralyzing the ADD populace with fabricated fear.
I didn't accuse you of saying that.
goddamn greenspan
I routinely put the source of a quote in the "posted by" brackets. Sorry if it confused you.
This was a nonevent.Read some damn current events.....
"French Official Equivocates, Iran Puts Him on Ignore"
"Iran Puts Him on Ignore" Really, read the following.
The Jerusalem Post Internet Edition
600 Iranian missiles said to be pointed at targets in Israel
JPost.com Staff , THE JERUSALEM POST Sep. 17, 2007
Six hundred Iranian Shihab-3 missiles are pointed at targets throughout Israel, and will be launched if either Iran or Syria are attacked, an Iranian website affiliated with the regime reported on Monday.
"Iran will shoot at Israel 600 missiles if it is attacked," the Iranian news website, Assar Iran, reported. "600 missiles will only be the first reaction."
According to the report, dozens of locations throughout Iraq, which are being used by the US Army, have also been targeted.
The Shihab missile has a range of 1,300 km, and can reach anywhere in Israel.
On Sunday, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said that the nuclear Iranian crisis forces the world "to prepare for the worst," and said that in this case it "is war."
Kouchner emphasized, however, that negotiations should still be the preferred course of action.
Kouchner, quoted by French daily Le Figaro, added that "Iran does whatever it pleases in Iraq ... one cannot find in the entire world a crisis greater than this one."
In response to Kouchner's comments, Iran's state-owned news agency accused France of pandering to the interests of the United States.
"The new occupants of the Elysee (Presidential palace) want to copy the White House," the IRNA news agency said in an editorial. The editorial added that French President Nicolas Sarkozy was taking on "an American skin."
Kouchner's statements came just hours after US Defense Secretary Robert Gates reiterated the Bush administration's commitment, at least for the time being, to using diplomatic and economic means to counter the potential nuclear threat from Iran.
This article can also be read at http://www.jpost.com /servlet/Satellite?cid=1189411419433&pagename=JPost%2FJPArt icle%2FShowFull
[ Back to the Article ]
Copyright 1995- 2007 The Jerusalem Post - http://www.jpost.com/
=================================
Things are getting very serious in the ME and it is
not Bush doing the "pushing" other countries are
getting worried. People keep brushing off the Syrian
incident, the bombing.
I didn't read anything about Iran dismantling their nuclear program -- so yes, the Frenchman has been ignored in that respect."Iran Puts Him on Ignore" Really, read the following.
If I knew what that was about, I would have an opinion. No one is talking about it, so why should I jump to any conclusions?Things are getting very serious in the ME and it is
not Bush doing the "pushing" other countries are
getting worried. People keep brushing off the Syrian
incident, the bombing.
And Bush has already done all the pushing he can without actually bombing the place.
"a hard line"
After dubya declared Iran in the axis of evil, US companies, eg Halliburton, continued to do business with Iran.
The objective of all dubya's bull in the M/E is to increase revenues for US corps, NOT US security.
the fact that any country aims missles is an outrage.
i've got mine on random.
Exactly why he is on my IGNORE list. Just flames, no relavant information.
how cute is this!!
My latest "attack."
Abizaid: World Could Abide Nuclear Iran
By ROBERT BURNS – 1 hour ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — Every effort should be made to stop Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, but failing that, the world could live with a nuclear-armed regime in Tehran, a recently retired commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East said Monday.
John Abizaid, the retired Army general who headed Central Command for nearly four years, said he was confident that if Iran gained nuclear arms, the United States could deter it from using them.
"Iran is not a suicide nation," he said. "I mean, they may have some people in charge that don't appear to be rational, but I doubt that the Iranians intend to attack us with a nuclear weapon."
The Iranians are aware, he said, that the United States has a far superior military capability.
"I believe that we have the power to deter Iran, should it become nuclear," he said, referring to the theory that Iran would not risk a catastrophic retaliatory strike by using a nuclear weapon against the United States.
"There are ways to live with a nuclear Iran," Abizaid said in remarks at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank. "Let's face it, we lived with a nuclear Soviet Union, we've lived with a nuclear China, and we're living with (other) nuclear powers as well."
He stressed that he was expressing his personal opinion and that none of his remarks were based on his previous experience with U.S. contingency plans for potential military action against Iran....
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5j...ubKYKyj1HxPoJw
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