France warns Obama on Iran

TheStar.com

Reuters News Agency

PARIS–French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner warned U.S. President-elect Barack Obama yesterday of potential dangers involved in his plans to deal more directly with Iran and send more troops to Afghanistan.

Obama has made clear he plans a new approach to dealing with Iran and its nuclear program, including direct talks if needed, a break from the outgoing administration of U.S. President George W. Bush, which pursued a strategy of isolation.

Kouchner, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, said he welcomed Obama's plans but urged him to be careful in dealing with the Iranians, who have been negotiating with major powers for years.

"We have negotiated at great length. People came to France, we sent people to Iran, we met them, and unfortunately this dialogue produced nothing. And so, one must be careful," Kouchner told TV5 television and RFI radio.

Major powers twice have offered Iran a package of incentives to persuade it to abandon uranium enrichment, a sensitive technology that can produce fuel for power plants or potentially for nuclear weapons. Tehran rejected those advances. Some major powers in the West say Iran seeks to develop the atom bomb under the cover of a civilian nuclear program. Iran says it only wants to master nuclear technology to generate electricity.

Kouchner said his concern is that direct talks between Washington and Tehran could hurt the unity of the major powers that presented the offers to Iran and have imposed sanctions against it – France, Britain, Germany, the United States, Russia and China.

Kouchner, a former aid worker poached from the political left by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, also expressed doubts about Obama's plan to send more troops to Afghanistan, saying the solution there would be political, not military.

"I do not think that is the solution, except in certain places, with a specific task," Kouchner said, emphasizing the importance of being able to one day hand over responsibility for security to Afghan forces.

In a telephone call Saturday, Obama told Afghan President Hamid Karzai he would dedicate more U.S. aid and military power to the region's fight against extremist groups once he takes office, Karzai's office said yesterday. The conversation was the first reported contact between the two, although Obama spoke to at least 15 other world leaders in the three days after winning election.

With files from Associated Press