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L’AQUILA, Italy (Reuters) – French President Nicolas Sarkozy warned Israel that any strike against Iran would be catastrophic for the world and told Tehran to expect more sanctions if it refused to discuss its nuclear program.
Sarkozy urged against any military action.
“A unilateral attack (by Israel) would be an absolute catastrophe,” he told reporters during the annual summit of the Group of Eight rich nations.
“Israel should know that it is not alone and should follow what is going on calmly,” he said, adding that he had not received any assurances that Israel would hold off on any action ahead of the September deadline.
Sarkozy said patience with Iran was running thin.
Russia blocked Western countries at the G8 from immediately pushing for further sanctions.
(IsraelNN.com) – A unilateral Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities would be an “absolute catastrophe” for the world, warned French President Nicolas Sarkozy at the G8 summit in Italy. Among other issues, the forum discussed Iran’s nuclear program which is believed by leading Western powers to be secretly pursing an atomic bomb.
Speculations that Israel might attack Iran grew earlier in the week after U.S. Vice President Joe Biden responded to a question about that possibility by saying that Israel had a sovereign right to decide what were its best interests.
September deadline
Leaders at the summit agreed to pursue a negotiated deal with Iran, setting a September deadline for the theocracy to accept negotiations on its nuclear program.
(JPost) – Both the US and Israel believe Iran has the technical capacity to build one nuclear bomb within a year if it decides to do so, but both countries also believe the chances that Teheran will indeed make that decision are slim, according to assessments made known to The Jerusalem Post.
The assessments come in the wake of comments made Sunday by US Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to the effect that Iran could be as little as a year away from completing a nuclear bomb, while Mossad head Meir Dagan recently surprised many by saying Iran won’t have a nuclear weapon until 2014.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."
