| Submit your comments on this article |
| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Franco-Iranian conflict opening salvos. |
| 2008-02-04 |
| TEHRAN: Iran criticised France on Sunday for adopting an “unfriendly” position in Tehran’s nuclear row with the West and setting up a military base in the Gulf which it said would harm peace in the oil-rich region. “So far, our policies regarding France and their unfriendly stances have been restrained, but if they continue this trend we will also review our stances,” the spokesman, Mohammad Ali Hosseini, told a news conference. France is among world powers trying to exert diplomatic pressure on Iran to halt atomic work they fear is aimed at making bombs and it has stepped up its rhetoric against Tehran since President Nicolas Sarkozy took office last May. Iran says its nuclear programme is a peaceful drive to generate electricity. France and Iran share commercial ties but relations took a turn for the worse after France’s foreign minister in September said the world should prepare for a war with Iran. Hosseini criticised a deal Paris signed with the United Arab Emirates to build France’s first permanent military installation in the Gulf, just across the water from Iran. The base, housing 400 to 500 personnel, will keep France within reach of sea lanes through which over a third of global oil shipments pass. Presence in Gulf: The French Defence Ministry on Jan 31 said forces from France, the UAE and Qatar would hold their first joint war games in the Gulf later this month. “We are against any kind of increase in the military presence of foreign forces in the region,” Hosseini said in comments carried by Iran’s Press TV. “We do believe that such a presence is not conducive to the security and peace in the region.” Envoy summoned: Referring to Israel, Hosseini said France was “ignoring the Zionist regime’s crimes” against Palestinians. On Friday, the French Foreign Ministry summoned Iran’s ambassador to Paris over a new verbal attack on Israel last week by Ahmadinejad who in the past has called for the Jewish state to be “wiped off the map.” In a tit for tat response, Iran on Sunday summoned the French ambassador to Tehran. The state broadcaster’s website said Iran had summoned French ambassador Bernard Poletti to protest at “France’s dual policies regarding Iran’s peaceful nuclear activities and the Zionist crimes in Palestine.” Hosseini had told reporters that Iran would call in Poletti to object to the summoning of its ambassador to Paris, Ali Ahani, on Friday. He also warned that Iran would reconsider its position towards Paris over its tougher line in the long-running nuclear standoff between the Islamic republic and the West. agencies |
| Posted by:Besoeker |
| #2 Hey, let's you and him fight! |
| Posted by: SteveS 2008-02-04 20:07 |
| #1 Maybe they'll give em Paris. |
| Posted by: Icerigger 2008-02-04 13:45 |