Chirac retracts Iran remark

French President Jacques Chirac on Thursday retracted an earlier statement he made saying that it would not be dangerous for Iran to have a nuclear bomb.

"Having one or perhaps a second bomb a little later, well that's not very dangerous," Chirac said in initial comments during an interview on Monday to the New York Times, the Paris-based International Herald Tribune and the French weekly Nouvel Observateur.

"Where would Iran drop this bomb? On Israel?" he asked. "It would not have gone off 200 meters into the atmosphere before Tehran would be razed to the ground," Chirac was quoted as saying by the three publications.

He added that the main danger from Iran developing a nuclear weapon was that other countries in the region, such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt, would follow suit.

Chirac called the journalists back to the Elysee Palace the following day to say that he was retracting the statement.

"It is I who was wrong and I do not want to contest it," Chirac was quoted as saying by the IHT. "I should have paid better attention to what I was saying and understood that perhaps I was on the record."

"It was an oversimplification... It is a formulation that I am taking back," the Nouvel Observateur quoted him as saying.

The US played down the retracted comments saying that they have no doubts about France's dedication to the policy that Iran should not get nuclear weapons.

"The fact is our position on Iran is clear, they shouldn't have any nuclear weapon and furthermore they ought to take steps to suspend uranium enrichment and reprocessing activities," said White House spokesman Tony Snow.

"That is not only the stated position of the United States but also its allies, including France, in terms of dealing with the Iranians," the spokesman told reporters.

"Let's also make it clear that we have offered conditions in which we would talk with the Iranians and that is: You take these steps on the nuclear program, there is going to be an opportunity to talk about a whole range of issues that are going to be very good for the Iranian people," said Snow.

Reactions to the initial statement:

British Foreign Secretary, Margaret Beckett: "It is not a sentiment I share and from what I understand, the French president doesn't share it anymore either."

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mark Regev: "I don't think anyone in the international community has any doubt that the Iranian nuclear program is not benign and that if the extremist regime in Tehran achieves nuclear weapons, that would be an extremely destabilizing factor."