| Topic: |
Science > Prophecies-Of-Nostradamus |
| User: |
"The Last 1919 Days - Uncle Wally s WORLD WAR III NEWZ CENTER..... HOOROO !" |
| Date: |
18 Sep 2007 01:59:21 AM |
| Object: |
Iran anger over French war warning -- the next step to all-out war in the Middle East ~! |
HOOROO
UNCLE WALLY
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http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/09/17/france.iran/
Iran anger over French war warning
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman: 'We hope such statements are
superficial'
Kouchner says European leaders considering economic sanctions
Iran insists its atomic activities are aimed only at producing energy
TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- Iran's foreign ministry criticized France on
Monday for a blunt warning over the weekend that Europe must prepare
for war if Tehran continues to flout international demands to stop
producing nuclear fuel.
"We hope that such statements are superficial and do not reflect
France's realistic and strategic points of view," Foreign Ministry
spokesman Mohammad-Ali Hosseini said Monday, according to the state-
run Islamic Republic News Agency.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said in a televised interview
Sunday that European nations should consider sanctions outside the
U.N. framework if Iran continues to ignore a Security Council call to
halt its production of enriched uranium -- and he added, "We must
prepare ourselves for the worst."
Asked what "the worst" meant, Kouchner -- co-founder of the the Nobel
Prize-winning relief agency Doctors Without Borders -- replied, "That
is war, sir."
Kouchner quickly added that he does not believe war to be imminent,
but that further sanctions are. He said major French companies
including those in the energy sector are being told to stop any
further investments in Iran.
Hosseini also said that the use of "convulsive words" ran counter to
"the historical, cultural and civilizational dignity and position of
France," according to IRNA.
European Union members Britain, France and Germany have led Western
powers in negotiations with Tehran over its nuclear program, which
Iranian officials insist is aimed at producing civilian electric
power. The United States accuses Iran of working toward a nuclear
weapon.
"At a time when the issue of Iran's peaceful nuclear activities was
removed from the agenda of the EU ministerial session recently,
Kouchner's claims are not only in contradiction with EU's macro
policies on the Islamic Republic of Iran but are also aimed at
questioning credibility and competency of the International Atomic
Energy Agency," said Hosseini.
The IAEA, the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog agency, says it has been able to
verify that Iran's declared nuclear material has not been diverted
from peaceful use. While the IAEA has been unable to verify some
"important aspects" regarding the nature and scope of Iran's nuclear
work, the agency and Iranian officials agreed on a plan to resolve all
outstanding issues, Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei said Monday.
While France opposed the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, Kouchner's
remarks on Iran follow previous hard-line statements by France's new
president, Nicolas Sarkozy. In August, the conservative Sarkozy said a
nuclear-armed Iran was "not acceptable."
"I think there is a new France since Sarkozy came to power," Dominique
Moisi, an analyst at the French Institute on Foreign Relations, told
CNN. "There is a new style of diplomatic content, and obviously there
is a new relationship with the U.S. and Washington."
CNN's Jim Bittermann in Paris contributed to this report.
Links referenced within this article
Find this article at:
http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/09/17/france.iran
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