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A weak-kneed surrogate

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner has clarified that his recent remarks about the necessity of preparing for a war against Iran should not be construed either as a warning of an imminent attack or as an indication of his country’s readiness to participate in it. According to Mr. Kouchner, what he meant was that the worst-case scenario could unfold if negotiations on the Iranian nuclear programme did not produce a positive result. He also sought to pass off his remark about preparing for war as merely a reminder that armies were always readying for all sorts of contingencies. To the Iranians, however, Mr. Kouchner’s rhetorical flourishes are just another sign of a strategic switching of sides by a country it considered a friend. Ever since the dispute over the nuclear programme arose, France has been one of the bulwarks against the unilateralist efforts of the United States to make the United Nations adopt incremental layers of sanctions against Iran to force it to suspend uranium enrichment. Now, just when the U.S. has run into a roadblock in the form of opposition from Russia and China, Paris appears ready to bat for Washington. The French government is trying to persuade the rest of the European Union to enforce additional sanctions, aside from directing state-run oil and gas companies not to bid for projects in Iran.

France’s strategic shift makes little sense when Iran has just entered into an agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency that sets a timetable for resolving all the outstanding issues by November 2007. Teheran has actually begun to implement this agreement by responding to the IAEA’s queries on plutonium reprocessing. The Iranians have also agreed to clear any doubt about other aspects of the nuclear programme relating to its peaceful nature. In a report made public on August 30, the IAEA observed that it would be in a position to reconstruct the entire history of the programme if these outstanding issues were addressed. Logically, the sanctions in place can be lifted if this agreement is honoured in all respects and the international watchdog body is able to certify that the Iranian programme does not have a weapons orientation. Such a summation will not of course suit a U.S. that is going all out to deny Iran its due role as a significant player in West Asia. In advocating additional sanctions without waiting for the deal to work, Paris is acting as Washington’s weak-kneed surrogate.

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