PARIS, Feb 1: 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.
Mr Chirac made the comments to two U.S. newspapers and a French magazine but called the reporters back for another interview the next day and said he thought he was speaking off the record.
His comments raised doubts about where France stands after years spent jointly spearheading a diplomatic push aimed at ensuring Iran does not develop atomic weapons, and prompted Chirac's office to say France's position has not changed.
“What is dangerous about this situation is not the fact of having a nuclear bomb -- having one, maybe a second one a little later, well, that's not very dangerous,” Mr Chirac was quoted as telling the reporters from the International Herald Tribune and New York Times newspapers, and weekly Le Nouvel Observateur.
If Iran used a nuclear weapon against arch-foe Israel its capital Tehran would be obliterated in retaliation, he said.
Mr Chirac's office said the decision to publish the remarks was an attempt to spark “a shameful scandal”.France and allies the United States, Britain, Germany, Russia and China, have been pressuring Tehran to abandon technology that could be used to make atom bombs.
Influential French daily Le Monde said Chirac's comments represented “a radical turning point”, adding: “One asks what credibility the French position will now have.”
But Washington and London played down Chirac's remarks.
“It is not a sentiment I share. What is more I understand the president of France doesn't share it any more either,” British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said.
IMMEDIATE RETALIATION: Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini told Iranian state radio that Chirac's comments would “only worsen the current unbalanced atmosphere which is the result of the wrong US policies.”
The newspapers said that in the first meeting Chirac, 74 and approaching the end of his second mandate, appeared distracted at times and struggled to remember names and dates, but was alert in the second interview.—Reuters