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Last update - 00:00 17/09/2007
Iran says French foreign minister stoking crisis with talk of war
By News Agencies
Tags: France, UN, nuclear, Iran

Iran on Monday accused French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner of stoking a crisis after he said France must prepare for the possibility of war over Tehran's disputed nuclear program.

The official IRNA news agency quoted Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini as saying Kouchner's remarks were not in line with European Union policies.

"Using crisis-making words is against France's high historical and cultural position and is against France's civilization," he said in a statement.
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An earlier IRNA story quoted the spokesman as using the term "provocative words" in his statement, but in a later update the agency changed this to "crisis-making words".

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Sunday that the world must "must prepare for the worst" - including the possibility of war - in light of the Iranian nuclear crisis.

"It seems the French foreign minister has forgotten the EU's policies," Hosseini was quoted as saying.

The chief UN nuclear inspector criticized talk of attacking Iran as hype Monday, invoking the war in Iraq and saying such options should only be considered as a last resort and only if authorized by the UN Security Council.

"I would not talk about any use of force," said Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, in an indirect response to French warnings that the world had to be prepared for the possibility of war in the event that Iran obtains atomic weapons.

"We have to prepare for the worst, and the worst, sir, is war," Kouchner said in an interview on LCI television and RTL radio.

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."

France has said repeatedly it wants the United Nations Security Council to pass tougher sanctions against Iran over its failure to dispel fears that it is secretly pursuing nuclear weapons.

Saying only the UN Security Council could authorize the use of force,
ElBaradei urged the world to remember Iraq before considering any similar
action against Tehran.

"There are rules on how to use force, and I would hope that everybody would have gotten the lesson after the Iraq situation, where 70,000 innocent civilians have lost their lives on the suspicion that a country has nuclear weapons," ElBaradei told reporters.

He was alluding to a key U.S. argument for invading Iraq in 2003, that
Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear arms.
Four years later, no such arsenals have been found.

ElBaradei, speaking outside a 144-nation meeting of his agency, urged both sides to back away from confrontation, in comments addressed both to Iran and the U.S.-led group of nations pressing for new U.N. sanctions on Tehran for its refusal to end uranium enrichment
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  1.   When is the last time that the UN backed initiating war? 15:37  |  Gili 17/09/07
  2.   elbaradei is an iranian agent 15:38  |  ravi 17/09/07
  3.   Wrong: *UN* Said Iraq had Bio and Chemical WMDs 15:43  |  Ovadiah ben Avraham 17/09/07
  4.   The Iranian war 15:46  |  ottomatik 17/09/07
  5.   THE EVE OF DESTRUCTION 15:50  |  r 17/09/07
  6.   To answer Gili`s question (#1) 15:54  |  Fred Michaelsberg 17/09/07
  7.   ElBaradi 15:55  |  * BEN JABO 17/09/07
  8.   ElBaradei Slams French Talk Of Hitting Iran 16:05  |  Bill Foonman 17/09/07
  9.   THE NUCLEAR MONGER 16:09  |  Kooky Dennt 17/09/07
  10.   The UN is ineffective 16:16  |  The Director 17/09/07
  11.   War may be the least worse alternative 16:20  |  Ricardo 17/09/07
  12.   This Is GROUNDBREAKING 16:26  |  Avi (from Poland) 17/09/07
  13.   El Baradei 16:34  |  Steve Fu 17/09/07
  14.   Not professional for Baradi to give an opinion 16:40  |  Semsem 17/09/07
  15.   Elbaradei is right 16:47  |  Olek 17/09/07
  16.   Mr. ElBaradei was right in 2003 16:48  |  Mark Lincoln 17/09/07
  17.   Peak Oil Theory 16:58  |  Yitzhak 17/09/07
  18.   US War 17:00  |  Kazmi 17/09/07
  19.   What about Bin Laden with this bomb.?? 17:00  |  dr danielito 17/09/07
  20.   The plight of the psycho-right 17:00  |  Mark Lincoln 17/09/07
  21.   Western Warmongers 17:03  |  Sakis 17/09/07
  22.   DRUMS OF WAR 17:03  |  Neutered Observer 17/09/07
  23.   CALLS FOR WAR 17:09  |  Aaron 17/09/07
  24.   Now is not the time to talk about war... 17:09  |  Larry Watson 17/09/07
  25.   USA, Europe, Iran, China... 17:16  |  Suse 17/09/07
  26.   Collective Amnesia #1 -12 17:17  |  Mr. T 17/09/07
  27.   Re: This Is GROUNDBREAKING (#!@) 17:17  |  Sage 17/09/07
  28.   To Gili, ill-informed 17:20  |  Jean-Paul DOGUET 17/09/07
  29.   El Baradi 17:22  |  Zen 17/09/07
  30.   Iran has already warned everyone...France is just confirming it. 17:42  |  x 17/09/07
  31.   #16 Lincoln 17:43  |  * BEN JABO 17/09/07
  32.   War 17:44  |  Andrew 17/09/07
  33.   GOOD POINT #12 18:00  |  Jew 17/09/07
  34.   Sword rattlers take heed. 18:08  |  George 17/09/07
  35.   Annihilation 18:27  |  Charles 17/09/07
  36.   # Olek 18:28  |  Amadeus 17/09/07
  37.   Sounds like The Crusades 18:28  |  Enlightened American 17/09/07
  38.   An unreliable maverick 18:43  |  AM 17/09/07
  39.   That must be a printer`s devil,70,000 civilians dead! 18:44  |  lakshmi 17/09/07
  40.   Re: 12 - I agree: The French are finally talking sense about Iran 18:48  |  Carlo 17/09/07
  41.   Iran and El Baradi ask the same question??? 18:56  |  Avi 17/09/07
  42.   Iran 19:25  |  Neil 17/09/07
  43.   avi (in poland) 19:26  |  glen 17/09/07
  44.   #25 You are COMPLETELY wrong 19:27  |  scalito 17/09/07
  45.   #42 Good post 19:48  |  scalito 17/09/07
  46.   The Bomb 19:50  |  Bretware 17/09/07
  47.   Well Said, Sakis 19:52  |  Maki 17/09/07
  48.   #12 Sarkzoy is a JEW 19:52  |  scalito 17/09/07
  49.   Well Said, Mr. T 19:56  |  Maki 17/09/07
  50.   #32 WHEN WILL YOU ENLIST? 19:57  |  scalito 17/09/07
  51.   #17 Israel must be destroyed 20:07  |  scalito 17/09/07
  52.   See what happens when you eat the Bonehead`s burgers 20:12  |  Clickfool 17/09/07
  53.   BE VERY VERY CAREFUL ... AS YOU JUST MAY ... 20:15  |  Jomo 17/09/07
  54.   Such shamless hypocrisy by Iran! 20:20  |  Maurice 17/09/07
  55.   #39 - lakshmi 20:25  |  Maurice 17/09/07
  56.   Response to Yitzak# 17 20:31  |  Espart 17/09/07
  57.   Nowhere else have I seen this much hatred 20:36  |  Espart 17/09/07
  58.   #51 scalito - Did you know 20:52  |  Yonatan 17/09/07
  59.   # 18 Kazmi 21:02  |  Bill 17/09/07
  60.   to Olek 21:10  |  Charles Brown 17/09/07
  61.   French Paradox!!!!!!!!!!!!! 21:11  |  Iranian-Swedish 17/09/07
  62.   For Espart in Montreal # 57 21:20  |  Clickfool 17/09/07
  63.   KOUCHNER HAS PROVED TO BE A GOOD JEW 21:35  |  JACKAL 17/09/07
  64.   Iranian Bomb 21:37  |  Mike 17/09/07
  65.   to 12 21:38  |  usa 17/09/07
  66.   Tick...tick... 21:50  |  Existential 17/09/07
  67.   To Avi #12 22:08  |  Serenity 17/09/07
  68.   Thanks Jean-Paul 22:11  |  Serenity 17/09/07
  69.   Will nuclear winter fix global warming? 22:12  |  MGLoraine 17/09/07
  70.   Scalito / 51# 22:19  |  Zen 17/09/07
  71.   Espart / 57# 22:25  |  Zen 17/09/07
  72.   Idiots-r-us 22:32  |  Chris 17/09/07
  73.   Kouchner is jewish 22:57  |  HaaretzCensors 17/09/07
  74.   # 15 established rules...... 23:01  |  Lynn 17/09/07
  75.   #48 scalito 23:03  |  * BEN JABO 17/09/07
  76.   Western Warmongers? # 21 23:05  |  Lynn 17/09/07
  77.   Espart..... 23:08  |  Lynn 17/09/07
  78.   # 39 lakshmi loves the dead 23:12  |  Lynn 17/09/07
  79.   Dr Danielito 23:18  |  Persian Kitty 17/09/07
  80.   #50 scalito 23:19  |  * BEN JABO 17/09/07
  81.   #57 Espart 23:25  |  * BEN JABO 17/09/07
  82.   Iran & France 23:31  |  P. J. Casey 17/09/07
  83.   KOUCHNER? Isn`t that a JEWISH last name? 00:00  |  Samy 18/09/07
  84.   The French are only speaking the truth 00:26  |  Shepherd 18/09/07
  85.   55maurice,and your buddies to the south had nothing to do with 00:37  |  lakshmi 18/09/07
  86.   Good on YOU France! 00:47  |  Jason 18/09/07
  87.   Blessed are the peacemakers 01:10  |  Thomas 18/09/07
  88.   Orthodoxo-Fasistes, "Ellines"? 02:02  |  Jason 18/09/07
  89.   Islamic logic" 02:10  |  Jason 18/09/07
  90.   ONLY IRAN is allowed to interfere or send weapons to kill NATO 04:18  |  PETER SM 18/09/07
  91.   WHERE is Ahmadinejads magic light that hypnotised world leaders ? 05:40  |  PETER SM 18/09/07
  92.   "HAARETZ CENSORS" from Cambridge?.Is Kouchner Jewish 05:46  |  PETER SM 18/09/07
  93.   #39 Your right,they kill each other..IDIOTS 06:04  |  John 18/09/07
  94.   Kouchner has proved to be a decent Frenchman 06:06  |  Stupidpom 18/09/07
  95.   THE END OF DIPLOMACY IN EUROPE 07:19  |  indrajaya 18/09/07
  96.   Iraq, Iran, Syria 07:33  |  Rob 18/09/07
  97.   Peter SM # 92 08:06  |  Philippe 18/09/07
  98.   # 39 08:08  |  Philippe 18/09/07
  99.   Stupidpom # 94 08:14  |  Philippe 18/09/07
  100.   strike on iran 08:53  |  s. javed hussain 18/09/07
  101.   Hawkish comments, 09:19  |  Pawan 18/09/07
  102.   #39 lakshmi - you`re still posting fake figures 20:51  |  * BEN JABO 19/09/07
  103.   Israel always inventing "threats" 19:23  |  Mr. Anonymous 07/04/09
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