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Chirac prefers talks to sanctions on Iran

Vaiju Naravane

France calls for halt to uranium enrichment

Paris: French President Jacques Chirac on Monday called for an extension of the dialogue process with Iran and urged the suspension of both U.N. sanctions and Iran's uranium enrichment programme while negotiations were underway. He was speaking in a radio interview prior to his departure for New York to attend the U.N.'s annual General Assembly.

Mr. Chirac argued that more negotiations should take place with Iran, free of the threat of sanctions.

"During that negotiation, I propose that on the one hand the six refrain from referring the issue to the Security Council and that Iran renounce during the negotiation the enrichment of uranium," he told Europe 1 radio.

Another spat brewing

The six nations holding talks with Tehran are the five permanent members of the Security Council plus Germany. Mr. Chirac's remarks could start another Franco-U.S. spat given the fact U.S. President George Bush has been pressing hard for sanctions against Iran. This is the first time that an European leader has clearly distanced himself from the oft-repeated U.S. position that the suspension of uranium enrichment is a "precondition" for opening talks on the nuclear dossier.

Mr. Chirac indicated that the suspension should come during rather than before negotiations. "We can find solutions via dialogue," Mr. Chirac said.

Mr. Bush last week warned U.S. allies not to get too caught up in talking with Tehran, which Washington says is trying to build a nuclear arsenal under cover of an energy production programme. "My concern is that, you know, they'll stall; they'll try to wait us out," Mr. Bush said. "So part of my objective in New York is to remind people that stalling shouldn't be allowed."

The U.S. would like to see the Security Council threaten sanctions on Iran, including economic measures and travel bans. But veto-wielding members China, Russia — and now France — are openly balking. In his interview, Mr. Chirac said he was "never in favour of sanctions" but added this "did not mean that we must not have sanctions — which if it comes to it must be moderate and well-adapted."

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