War remarks brushed aside

Paris: Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner sought yesterday to explain his remarks that France needed to prepare for the prospect of war with Iran and told a newspaper he had intended to deliver a "message of peace".

With France, Britain, Germany, the United States, Russia and China due to meet on Friday to discuss a possible third round of UN sanctions against Tehran for failing to suspend sensitive nuclear work, Kouchner ratcheted up the pressure on Sunday.

In an interview with RTL radio and LCI television, he said: "We must prepare for the worst," adding: "The worst, sir, is war." He also said that war was not an imminent prospect.

In comments reported in newspaper Le Monde yesterday, however, he tried to explain the remarks, which were condemned by Iran and prompted an appeal for calm by UN nuclear watchdog chief Mohammad Al Baradei.

"I do not want it to be said that I am a warmonger! My message was a message of peace, of seriousness and of determination," the newspaper quoted him as saying as he headed to Moscow for talks with his Russian counterpart.

Negotiate

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said yesterday the comments by French government officials were intended for the media and should not be taken seriously.

"The remarks made to the press are different from genuine statements, so we do not consider these threats to be serious," Ahmadinejad told reporters during a visit to parliament.

France has been calling for tougher UN sanctions against Iran. Kouchner said that such measures were aimed at avoiding war, and if the UN Security Council could not agree to punish Iran further, France would work on separate EU sanctions.

"The worst situation would be war. To avoid that, the French attitude is to negotiate, negotiate, negotiate, without fear of being rebuffed, and to work with our European friends on credible sanctions," he said, according to Le Monde.

"If there is a new UN resolution, we will be happy about it. If there is not, we will build sanctions in any case."

Tehran denies charges that it is secretly seeking nuclear weapons and insists that it only wants to generate electricity.

But it has ignored the UN Security Council's repeated demands that it suspend uranium enrichment and other sensitive nuclear work that could potentially be used to make weapons.

"The system to avoid war is sanctions," Kouchner said.

Kouchner said France had asked French firms not to bid for work in Iran. Several big French firms have or are looking at big investments in the Islamic Republic, the world's fourth-largest oil producer, including Total.

Russia warns against use of force

Moscow: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov yesterday warned against the use of force in Iran and against unilateral sanctions to punish Tehran for its nuclear programme.

"We are convinced that no modern problem has a military solution, and that applies to the Iranian nuclear programme as well," Lavrov said after talks with French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner.

"We are seriously concerned about increasingly frequent reports that military action against Iran is being seriously considered," Lavrov said.

Lavrov criticised the idea of unilateral sanctions by the EU or the United States.

"If we agreed to work collectively, and that is represented in collective decisions made by the UN Security Council, then what purpose would unilateral sanctions have?" he said.

Kouchner said negotiations were necessary to avert the possibility of war, and suggested the world should not shy away from sanctions to pressure Iran over its nuclear programme,

But Lavrov signalled Moscow's opposition to a third round of UN sanctions, praising an agreement the International Atomic Energy Agency reached with Iran aimed at resolving outstanding issues.

- AP