Chirac threatens nuke attacks on 'terrorist' states
(AFP)
Updated: 2006-01-20 09:17

In an apparent reference to Iran, Chirac condemned "the temptation by certain countries to obtain nuclear capabilities in contravention of treaties."

Iran's government is pursuing a nuclear development programme, stoking fears among major powers that it will be used to make nuclear weapons.

France's opposition parties were split in their reaction to Chirac's statements.

The Socialist Party, through one-time prime minister Laurent Fabius, said there was nothing shocking about the position put forward.

But Helene Luc, a senator with the smaller Communist Party and member of a defence committee, said: "This extension of the concept of nuclear dissuasion takes us back years to the Cold War and can only deepen tensions with countries that aspire to have such weapons."

The comments also raised heckles in Germany, from both opposition and ruling coalition parties and the press, although there was no official comment from the coalition government led by Conservative Angela Merkel.

French President Jacques Chirac delivers his speech after visiting the French nuclear submarine the Vigilant in l'Ile Longue, Western France, Thursday Jan. 19, 2006.[AP]

For the opposition, Green deputy Winfried Nachtwei said Chirac's comments were "totally adventurous" and "irresponsible".

"I fear that these comments will not help the international community achieve the highest level of solidarity," Andreas Schockenhoff, the deputy president of Merkel's parliamentary party, said in an interview with the Friday edition of the regional daily Koelner Stadtanzeiger.

The comments were also widely criticized in German newspapers' with editorialists saying they risked intensifying the nuclear standoff with Iran.

Chirac's comment's are "clearly counterproductive," the economic daily Handelsblatt said.

"Chirac's threat is not only unwise, but also counterproductive," the Westdeutsche Zeitung in Duesseldorf said. "Because it leads to believe that diplomatic means are very limited in the face of nuclear ambitions."