Posição do nosso parceiro estratégico a respeito do Irã.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 04757.html
France Toughens Stance on Iran
Sarkozy's Sharp Tone Hints at Impatience Over Nuclear Standoff
French President Nicolas Sarkozy with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and President Obama, said at the G-20 summit in Pittsburgh last week that sanctions must be imposed by year's end if the nuclear standoff did not end.
PARIS, Sept. 30 -- Under President Nicolas Sarkozy,
France has adopted an increasingly hard-edged approach to Iran, often out ahead of the Obama administration with uncompromising language criticizing Iranian leaders and warning that their nuclear program threatens world peace.
The French attitude reflects Sarkozy's assessment that acquiescing to unsupervised nuclear development by Tehran would be perilous, risking an Israeli attack on Iranian installations and increasing instability in the Middle East. In addition, French analysts said, Sarkozy feels that Europe got nowhere with Iran in several years of what was called "constructive dialogue" and that it is time to move on to stronger measures in tandem with Washington.
As a result, French diplomats at a crucial meeting Thursday in Geneva are likely to push for swift, punitive sanctions unless Iran pledges unequivocally to open its entire nuclear program to international inspection to ensure Tehran is not developing atomic weapons. Jean-Pierre Maulny, a specialist in European defense at the Paris-based Institute for International and Strategic Relations, said Germany and Britain are likely to agree because they also feel the constructive dialogue bore no fruit and, to some extent, have been aligned with Paris.
The tough new French approach marks a clear change from the days of Presidents Jacques Chirac and George W. Bush, when France was often a reluctant U.S. ally compared with Britain and Germany. In contrast, Sarkozy in recent weeks has used a sharper tone than have British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and German Chancellor Angela Merkel -- and President Obama -- in denouncing Iran's nuclear program and advocating sanctions to force Tehran to allow inspectors in.
Part of the shift comes from Sarkozy's general tendency to use strong, combative language, in domestic political battles as well as in international conflicts. "I think it's in his nature to talk like that," said Fran?ois Heisbourg, a special adviser at the Foundation for Strategic Research in Paris.
Sarkozy's fundamental position -- seek dialogue but impose stronger sanctions unless Iran opens its nuclear program to international inspection -- dovetails neatly with the stances of Obama and other major U.S. allies, Heisbourg and French officials said. But his recent public comments have suggested impatience with Obama's extended-hand policy and a conviction that the time has come to deal firmly with Tehran's nuclear program.
"We supported President Obama's extended hand to Iran's leaders, but this hand cannot remain extended indefinitely with leaders who do not respond," Sarkozy said last month at a meeting with Merkel in Berlin. At last week's U.N. General Assembly meeting in New York, he ratcheted up his language, saying the extended hand had been ignored and, in what seemed to be a challenge to Obama, questioning whether it was worthwhile to keep waiting for a return gesture.
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