French diplomat tones down talk of war with Iran
By Katrin Bennhold and Elaine Sciolino, New York Times News Service
The Boston Globe
MOSCOW - France's foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, yesterday tried to tone down remarks he made in a radio and television interview the day before that the world had to prepare for possible war against Iran.
Attacked verbally by Iran, quietly criticized within his own government, Kouchner shifted the focus away from the threat of war and back to a call for hard negotiations as the way to force Iran to abandon key nuclear activities.
"The worst situation would be war," Kouchner told journalists en route to Moscow. "And to avoid the worst, the French position is very clear: Negotiate, negotiate, negotiate, and work with our European friends on credible sanctions."
On Sunday, Kouchner, a Socialist known for his blunt talk, said in an interview broadcast on RTL radio and LCI television: "We will negotiate until the end. And at the same time we must prepare ourselves."
Asked what he meant in referring to preparation, he replied, "It is necessary to prepare for the worst," adding, "The worst, it's war, sir."
Asked again to explain himself, Kouchner announced that France was doing military contingency planning for an eventual war, saying, "We are preparing by trying first of all to put together plans that are the unique prerogative of the chiefs of staff, but that - it's not for tomorrow."
Lost in the off-the-cuff and freewheeling remarks about war planning was his other, less alarmist message: that France is committed to using diplomacy to resolve the nuclear crisis with Iran, that no military action is planned and that he did not believe there would be an American military intervention while President Bush was still in office.
But his remarks fueled speculation that France was moving closer to the Bush administration position that all options - including war - are on the table.
Yesterday, Prime Minister Francois Fillon, a former labor and education minister, appeared to support Kouchner, adding to the sense that France's stance had hardened.
Asked during a visit to an army base at Angouleme about Kouchner's mention of war against Iran, Fillon replied, "The foreign affairs minister is right because everybody can see that the situation in the Near East is extremely tense and that it's getting worse."
Like Kouchner, he stressed that all steps must be taken to avoid war.
Adding to the confusion, the Foreign Ministry seemed to distance itself somewhat from Kouchner's remarks. A deputy spokesman, Denis Simonneau, referred journalists to a speech President Nicolas Sarkozy made last month in which he also said Iran could be attacked militarily if it did not curb its nuclear program, but that such an outcome would be a disaster. He gave no indication that France would ever participate in military action against Iran or even tacitly support such an approach.
The Foreign Ministry instructed its diplomatic missions around the world to use the same formulation, ministry officials said.
Kouchner's reference to war on Sunday infuriated Iran, which accused France of moving closer to Washington.
"The use of such words creates tensions and is contrary to the cultural history and civilization of France," said an Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Muhammad Ali Hosseini, in a statement yesterday.
An editorial in the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency on Monday said, "The new occupants of the Elysee want to copy the White House."
In Vienna, Mohamed ElBaradei, the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, called for calm. "I would not talk about any use of force," he said.
Stressing that only the Security Council could authorize the use of force, he urged the world to remember the lesson of Iraq.
