France Now Opposes Iran Punishments

As world leaders converged at the United Nations on Monday, French President Jacques Chirac dealt a significant blow to the Bush administration’s effort to slow Iran’s nuclear development, saying his government would join Russia and China in resisting the U.S. push for sanctions against Tehran.

“I am never in favor of sanctions,” Chirac told Europe 1 radio on the eve of the General Assembly’s annual debate. “I have never observed that sanctions were very effective.”

Chirac proposed a compromise in which the Security Council would suspend the threat of sanctions and Iran would suspend enrichment of uranium while the two sides talked. As a last resort, after diplomacy had been exhausted, France might consider penalties, he said, but only “moderate and adapted” ones.

The division over sanctions seems likely not only to complicate policy on Iran, but also to affect the administration’s efforts to win international help on a range of other issues, diplomats and analysts say.

Bush plans to make Iran a centerpiece of his address to the General Assembly today, explaining why he considers the regime in Tehran a grave threat and insisting that sanctions be imposed if negotiations fail.

He will also talk about the administration’s Iraq policies and its support for a peacekeeping mission in the Darfur region of Sudan in the face of opposition from the Sudanese government.

But on both issues, Washington finds itself on the opposite side from several Security Council members, including Russia and China, both of which have veto power on the council. In the Sudan case, the two nations, backed by other council members such as Qatar, insist that the U.N. must not intervene in a nation without its government’s permission, even when the international community does not agree with the country’s actions.

The change of heart by France means three of the five veto-holding members of the Security Council now oppose the U.S. stance on Iran.

“As preceding the Iraq war, Chirac’s public comments are unfortunate, because France is a very powerful player,” said Judith Kipper, a Middle East expert at the Council on Foreign Relations.

“It could encourage the Iranians and countries that are anti-American to believe that the United States is isolated. And if President Bush believes that there is no cooperation from the Security Council, it may encourage him to believe the only option is to strike Iran.”

White House officials said Monday that their position on Iran had not changed, with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice scheduled to talk with U.S. allies in New York this week about a possible resolution calling for sanctions.

Bush is to meet today with Chirac, and Rice plans to dine tonight with representatives from the countries negotiating with Iran: Britain, China, Russia, France, Germany and, as of Monday, Italy. All have agreed that Iran must stop enriching uranium -- a process that can be used to produce energy or a nuclear weapon -- in order to create trust before talks on helping Iran create a nuclear energy program can resume.

European diplomats say they want the United States to sit at the same table with Iran before they consider talks to have failed.

“I do not believe in solutions that do not involve dialogue ... taken to its limits,” Chirac said Monday.

Bush has ruled out discussions with Iranian officials unless they halt their nuclear program, and there will be no U.S. contact with the Iranian delegation this week, officials said.

European diplomats are scrambling to arrange a face-saving compromise that could allow Iran to suspend enrichment after talks resumed -- with the U.S. then joining the negotiations. U.S. officials stopped short of ruling out that option Monday.

National security advisor Stephen J. Hadley said the administration was looking first for “a verifiable suspension so we can then have a discussion.”

The U.S. also is seeking ways to put pressure on Iran outside the Security Council. At a meeting of Group of 7 finance ministers in Singapore on Monday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. warned Western banks of the “risks” of doing business with Iranian companies suspected of trafficking in materials for the production of nuclear weapons.

Union Bank of Switzerland has already halted business with Iran, and the U.S. this month banned American banking transactions with Bank Saderat, a state-owned Iranian financial institution suspected of channeling funds to terrorists.

Iran’s top nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, was expected to continue talks this week with Javier Solana, the European Union’s chief diplomat.

On Monday, Larijani had not yet arrived in the U.S. An Iranian diplomat said some members of the Iranian delegation had not received visas, but it was unclear whether that was the reason for Larijani’s absence.

Iran is just one intractable problem world leaders will tackle in New York this week. Bush is expected to seek to rally support for his “freedom agenda” in the Middle East, and to paint conflicts there as the clash of extremism and moderation. He is also expected to seek other nations’ help in investing in Iraq and supporting its fledgling government as it grapples with sectarian violence.

Additionally, he is likely to urge nations to continue helping shore up the fragile truce in Lebanon and to contain Hezbollah in the aftermath of this summer’s conflict between the militant group and Israel. Iran, a Hezbollah sponsor, can make or break the cease-fire.

The continuing violence in Sudan also will be one of the main topics this week at the United Nations, both as an impending crisis and as a test of the world’s “responsibility to protect” civilians whose governments have failed them -- a tenet world leaders agreed to at last year’s session.

The government in Khartoum has refused to allow U.N. peacekeepers into Darfur to help protect the more than 2 million people who have been displaced during three years of attacks by government-aligned militias.

Human rights groups have warned that a massive Sudanese military campaign to put down rebel groups could cause hundreds of thousands of casualties. The government has said it will take care of its own people, alongside a force of about 7,000 African Union troops due to leave at the end of the month.

China, Russia and Qatar insist the Security Council cannot send peacekeepers to the region without Khartoum’s consent. But Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said Monday that the Sudanese ambassador to the U.N. had told her Khartoum would allow the African Union force to extend its stay and expand.

U.S. Ambassador John R. Bolton said he would circulate a resolution today for a vote Thursday on allowing an existing U.N. force in southern Sudan to expand into Darfur. Foreign ministers of Security Council members are expected to attend.

maggie.farley@latimes.com

*

Times staff writers Peter Wallsten in New York and Sebastian Rotella in Paris contributed to this report.