First Sarkozy in his first foreign policy public speech tells Iran to "curb their nuclear program or face attack", in late August, and today we see that French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner says the world should prepare for war with Iran.
The world should "prepare for war" with Iran, the French foreign minister has said, significantly escalating tensions over the country's nuclear programme.
Bernard Kouchner said that while "we must negotiate right to the end" with Iran, if Teheran possessed an atomic weapon it would represent "a real danger for the whole world".
The world should "prepare for the worst... which is war", he said.
Tehran is playing down Kouchner's words, of course, but this change in approach from France since Sarkozy won the French elections is and astounding 180 degree turnabout.
Hat tip to QandO, we see that the JP is reporting that 600 Iranian Shihab-3 missiles are pointed at targets throughout Israel, and will be launched if either Iran or Syria are attacked, an Iranian website affiliated with the regime reported on Monday.
"Iran will shoot at Israel 600 missiles if it is attacked," the Iranian news website, Assar Iran, reported. "600 missiles will only be the first reaction."
According to the report, dozens of locations throughout Iraq, which are being used by the US Army, have also been targeted.
The Shihab missile has a range of 1,300 km, and can reach anywhere in Israel.
Although I agree that Iran cannot be allowed to have nuclear weapons and I have often stated that someone needs to do something, I also see that we still have months to pressure Iran to comply with its international obligations, so this barrage of talk about "imminent war with Iran" is premature and not helping the situation any.
These public statements and leaked news stories might very well be a method of forcing Iran to understand that the international community is done being ignored and are seriously discussing military action against Iran's nuclear facilities.
My problem is, when you corner a madman, a man that has no problem with Armageddon, in fact would welcome it, pressure and threats will not make him back down, it will force the issue to a head before all diplomatic measures can be used.
Iran may very well preemptively strike Israel and if they do then the chaos in the Middle East right now will look like a childrens game in comparison to the disaster and destruction we will see following such an attack.
Another very real possibility is the comments coming from France, first by Sarkozy and now by Kouchner, as well as the leaked stories regarding massive air strike plans, might also be a message to China, Russia and Germany that further UN sanctions must have teeth to be effective and to stop this collision course that we, Israel, France and others seem to be on with Iran.
Lets hope that the weak links of the UN, Russia and China, understand that stronger sanctions, ones that Iran cannot ignore, ones that Iran will feel and be forced to pay attention to, are a much better option than military strikes against Iran, for the Middle East as a whole.
Allah says he is starting to get nervous. I am too.
The problem with using logic and reason and trying to be reasonable with someone like Ahmadinejad is that a man that has no logic or reason cannot be reasoned with.
This is a lesson the international community seems to still not understand.
France understands now, Israel always has.
Will Russia and China learn this lesson before it is too late?
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