Chirac calls for UN to scale down Iran sanctions
By Martin Arnold and Daniel Dombey
September 18, 2006
The Financial Times
Original Source: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/fc27031e-470a-11db-83df-0000779e2340.html

Jacques Chirac, France’s president, could be heading for another clash with the US over the Middle East, after pushing the United Nations security council to scale down its threat of sanctions against Iran. 
Mr Chirac, who is widely expected to step down next year, on Monday also fired a clear warning shot at Nicolas Sarkozy, his rebellious interior minister and likely successor, who is thought to have infuriated the president with his recent declarations, particularly on Franco-US relations.
Mr Chirac’s appeal for the UN Security Council to relax its position on sanctions, made in a rare interview with French radio on Monday, mirrors the recent position of Javier Solana, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, who indicated his support for a compromise last week.
Earlier this year the Security Council backed a resolution which called for Iran to suspend uranium enrichment by August 31 and warned of economic sanctions if Tehran failed to do so. 
At the same time, the world’s big powers also told Iran that it had to suspend enrichment, which can produce both nuclear fuel and weapons grade material, before formal negotiations could begin on improving ties between Tehran and the west.
But some EU diplomats, including Mr Solana, have responded warmly to a compromise floated by Iran in which Tehran would halt enrichment not before but during negotiations.
Mr Chirac explicitly endorsed such a plan of action - even though EU diplomats say they have yet to receive proof that Tehran has committed itself to the proposal.
“We must first find an agenda for negotiations, then during these negotiations I suggest that, on the one hand, the six (the US, the UK, France, Germany, China and Russia) renounce involving the security council and Iran renounces uranium-enrichment during the negotiations,” said the French president.
Mr Chirac said that he had “never seen that sanctions were very effective”, and suggested that should they be needed, any sanctions on Iran should be “moderate and adapted”. He added that he was “not pessimistic” on the prospect of a deal with Iran.
His comments are likely to worry US officials. Washington is reluctant to give more concessions to Iran and sceptical about how long any suspension would last.
UK diplomats, who are keen to keep the US on board and maintain a common international front, are also upset by Mr Chirac’s comments. The UK fears that, by accepting an Iranian compromise before it has even been made, the international community could weaken its hand, so reducing the ultimate chances of a deal.
Mr Chirac is also thought to be furious about Mr Sarkozy’s speech in Washington last week. The interior minister criticised French “arrogance” and suggested that Paris had gone too far in 2003 by threatening to use its UN security council veto to block a US-led invasion of Iraq.
The 73-year-old president distanced himself from his interior minister, saying: “We have relations (with the US) that can only be between equals, which cannot be a relationship of submission.” His comments were a clear rejection of Mr Sarkozy’s call for Franco-US relations to be “rebuilt”. 
Last week, David Cameron, the leader of Britain’s opposition Conservative party, struck a similar note, by saying that the UK should not have a “slavish” relationship with the US.
Mr Chirac defended his opposition to the war in Iraq. “When I look at the situation, I do not fell I have committed an error,” he told Europe 1, before flying to New York for Tuesday’s meeting of the UN General Assembly, where he will meet George W. Bush, US president.
In a private conversation with aides, Mr Chirac went much further, slamming Mr Sarkozy’s speech as “irresponsible” and a “lamentable… error” that was “a danger for France”, according to Monday’s Libération newspaper.
The fierce criticism exposes deep ideological divisions between the two men over foreign policy, which many observers judge to have been one of the more successful areas of Mr Chirac’s rule.
France’s president believes France should act as a counter-weight to US hegemony wherever possible. But Mr Sarkozy last week argued for much closer relations between the two countries, declaring: “Never again should we turn our disagreements into a crisis.”
The animosity between the two men could influence next April’s presidential election. Mr Chirac still has not ruled out standing for a third term as president. But even if he steps aside, as most expect him to do, he could still become a serious nuisance for Mr Sarkozy during the campaign.