French FM: Iran deal aimed at preventing Israeli attack
Bernard Kouchner tells Daily Telegraph that 'Israelis 'will not tolerate an Iranian bomb, and we all knows that'. There is the time Israel will offer us before reacting, he adds, because 'Israel will react as soon as they know clearly that there is a threat'
Will an agreement with Iran prevent Israeli military action? French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner has stressed the urgency of reaching an agreement with Iran over its nuclear program and removing the risk of a pre-emptive strike by Israel.
In an interview to British newspaper Daily Telegraph, published Monday, Kouchner said that time was running out.
"They (the Israelis) will not tolerate an Iranian bomb. We know that, all of us. So that is an additional risk and that is why we must decrease the tension and solve the problem. Hopefully we are going to stop this race to a confrontation," Koucher said.
"There is the time that Israel will offer us before reacting, because Israel will react as soon as they know clearly that there is a threat."
The French foreign minister, who is visiting the Lebanese capital of Beirut, also addressed the sanctions against Iran, expressing his fears that tightening the existing sanctions would simply impoverish ordinary Iranians, weaken the opposition and fail to influence the regime.
"Certainly, the upper people in the Iranian government, they will not suffer from sanctions. But the people of the bazaar and the people on the street, the women and the youngsters, they will certainly suffer from that," Kouchner said.
'Dialogue still a priority'
He referred to the sanctions as a problem. "It is not a discovery. I have witnessed sanctions all over the world and it's always targeting the poor people more than the rich people."
Kouchner said the priority was still "dialogue". More sanctions might become necessary "in the coming months", but he would be reluctant to impose them.
"We are not looking for sanctions and as I said my personal experience is not to look for sanctions targeted on people. There is an opposition, people are demonstrating, very courageously they were in the streets. Why are we targeting them? I don't know. We are not for the time being looking for sanctions."
The UN nuclear watchdog chief said on Wednesday he had given Iran and three world powers a draft text of a deal for approval by Friday to help allay concerns over Tehran's nuclear program.
International Atomic Energy Agency director Mohamed ElBaradei spoke at the conclusion of two and a half days of difficult politically charged talks involving Iran, France, Russia and the United States at IAEA headquarters.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak has been the only Israeli official to address the draft deal with Iran, warning against the move's implications.
"This deal, if it is signed, will take Iran's nuclear program back a year, but it will also result in the legitimization of its uranium enrichment for civilian purposes. The uranium enrichment by Iran must be stopped altogether," said the defense minister.
