Chirac backtracks after gaffe on Iran bomb threat
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French President Jacques Chirac backtracked on Thursday after saying it would not be dangerous for Iran to have a nuclear bomb, a sudden departure from the position France has long held with key allies.
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ANGOULEME, France  - Everything must be done to avoid the prospect of war with Iran, French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said on Monday, a day after his foreign minister said the country should prepare for that possibility.
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Accusing Iran of seeking nuclear weapons, French President Nicolas Sarkozy suggested tougher sanctions against the Mideast nation Thursday over its refusal to suspend nuclear activities.
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French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Monday a diplomatic push by the world's powers to rein in Tehran's nuclear program was the only alternative to "an Iranian bomb or the bombing of Iran".
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French President Jacques Chirac said  on Tuesday Iran must suspend uranium enrichment, a process  which can produce fuel for power plants or bombs, before talks  aimed at defusing a nuclear standoff can go ahead.
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France cannot accept a nuclear-armed Iran, President Jacques Chirac's office said on Thursday, back-tracking on earlier remarks by the president that it would not be dangerous for Iran to have an atom bomb.
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In his first major foreign policy speech as president, Nicolas Sarkozy of France said yesterday that Iran could be attacked militarily if it did not live up to its international obligations to curb its nuclear program.
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French President Jacques Chirac told  reporters an Iran that possessed one or two nuclear weapons  would not pose much of a danger and then retracted many of his  comments, the International Herald Tribune said on Thursday.
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French President Jacques Chirac said that a nuclear-armed Iran was unacceptable, setting the record straight after stating that Tehran's possession of the bomb would not be &quot;very dangerous.&quot;
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French President Jacques Chirac continued a fence-mending but at times edgy state visit to Britain Friday reaffirming that the U.N. should decide on foreign interventions.
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French President Jacques Chirac said Tuesday that he does not want to set a new deadline for Iran to suspend nuclear activities, which could be used to develop atomic weapons, despite Tehran's defiance of U.N. Security Council demands.
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While the French foster a sense of urgency over Iran's nuclear program, Tehran's neighbors are fearful of what a showdown may bring
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PARIS - French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner yesterday strongly defended his sharp stance on Iran's nuclear program, saying his remarks that the world had to prepare for a possible war against Iran had been misinterpreted and that he was a man of peace.
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French President Jacques Chirac began a  visit to Britain Thursday overshadowed by his withering  accusations against Washington and London of endangering the  world by invading Iraq.
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French President Jacques Chirac has said that a nuclear-armed Iran was unacceptable, setting the record straight after stating that Tehran's possession of the bomb would not be &quot;very dangerous.&quot;
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Former French President Jacques Chirac refuses to be quizzed about an alleged plot to discredit his successor.
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French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Monday a diplomatic push by the world's powers to rein in Tehran's nuclear programme was the only alternative to "an Iranian bomb or the bombing of Iran".