NPR: French Foreign Minister: Get Ready for War with Iran

French Foreign Minister: Get Ready for War with Iran

Ah, the French. It seems their new government's desire to make amends with the Bush administration is no passing fancy. Officials seem to be taking a tougher approach to foreign affairs. For instance, take the statement Sunday by France's foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, who said that the world should prepare for war over Iran's nuclear program.

Kouchner also called for "more effective sanctions" against Iran if it continues to resist the demands of the international community to curtail its nuclear program. He said the European Union should prepare its own set of sanctions outside of any imposed by the United Nations Security Council, and he has asked several large private companies not to do business with Iran.

Not everyone is happy with the new tough garcon image Kouchner projected. Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik said she can't comprehend why Kouchner "is resorting to such martial rhetoric at this time." Ha'aretz reports that Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, called the comments "hype."

"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.

But if the French keep up all this tough talk, which the BBC reports is seen as a way to court favor with the U.S., there might not be any more talk of "freedom fries" in the congressional cafeteria.

2:03 PM ET | 09-17-2007 | permalink

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