France: World should prepare for possible war with Iran

French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner has said the world should prepare for the worst when it comes to the Iranian nuclear programme, including war.

"We have to prepare for the worst…and the worst is war," he said in an interview broadcast on national television and radio on Sunday (16 September), according to French daily Le Figaro.

Mr Kouchner stressed that the world must negotiate to the end with Iran, but pointed out that if Teheran has nuclear weapons it will pose "a real danger for the entire world."

The French minister said he would like to see more sanctions by the European Union on Iran, adding that he had already urged some French companies to avoid undertaking new work or contracts in Iran.

"We have decided, while negotiations are continuing (…), to prepare eventual sanctions outside the ambit of UN sanctions, which would be European sanctions. Our good friends, the Germans, suggested that," he said.

EU foreign affairs chief Javier Solana has for some years now been negotiating with Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani. But Teheran denies Western allegations that it is building nuclear weapons, saying that its uranium enrichment project is aimed at providing energy for the growing population.

The five permanent members in the UN Security Council - China, France, Russia, the UK and the United States – are together with Germany set to discuss a new draft UN resolution on sanctions against Iran when they meet in Washington on Friday (21 September), reports AFP.

Last month, French president Nicolas Sarkozy said that a diplomatic push by the world powers was the only alternative to ''an Iranian bomb or the bombing of Iran''.