Korean Job Discussion Forums

[cbclark4]

France: Prepare for war over Iran

September 17, 2007 -- Updated 1621 GMT


PARIS, France (AP) -- France's foreign minister warned Sunday that the world should prepare for war if Iran obtains nuclear weapons and said European leaders were considering their own economic sanctions against the Islamic country.

Negotiations and two sets of U.N. Security Council sanctions have failed to persuade Iran to stop its uranium enrichment program, a process that can produce fuel for nuclear power plants as well as material used in atomic weapons.

Iran insists its atomic activities are aimed only at producing energy, but the U.S., its European allies and other world powers suspect Iranian authorities of seeking nuclear weapons.

Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, speaking on RTL radio, called for "more effective sanctions" against Iran if it continues to resist the demands to suspend uranium enrichment.

"We will not accept that such a bomb is made. We must prepare ourselves for the worst," he said, specifying that could mean a war. He did not elaborate on what kind of preparations that would entail.

"We have decided, while negotiations are under way ... to prepare for eventual sanctions outside the United Nations, which would be European sanctions," he said.

Kouchner was not specific about what penalties Europe might impose, other than to say they could be "economic sanctions regarding financial movements."

"Our German friends proposed this. We discussed it a few days ago," he said.

Sarkozy reportedly floated the possibility of European sanctions against Iran this summer. In a major foreign policy speech last month, he mentioned the possibility of an attack on Iran, which he said would be as "catastrophic" as Tehran getting a nuclear bomb.

In Washington, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the Bush administration is committed, for now, to using diplomatic and economic means to counter the potential nuclear threat from Iran.


http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/09/17/france.iran.ap/index.html

[cbclark4]

Iran scorns French warning of war

Last Updated: Monday, 17 September 2007, 22:03 GMT

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.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6998602.stm

[Ya-ta Boy]

While at the same time

[Sleepy in Seoul]

[jinju]

If theres war with iran, I hope they learn their mistakes from Iraq. Mainly, forget nationbuilding. The objective in Iran should be simple: TOTAL destruction. You can rebuild it later, from scratch.

[igotthisguitar]

[jinju]

[JMO]

[The_Conservative]

[bassexpander]

[jinju]

[spliff]

[Ya-ta Boy]

[pkang0202]

I like "New France". The French finally grew a set of balls.

[bassexpander]

As they should.

France needs to step out and make some statements.

They're an important country, as is Germany, and they need to rattle some good one-liners from time-to-time.

Hearing just the USA and Britain (Blair) do it got really old. People stopped listening, anyway.