Iraq war was illegal, Chirac tells Bush

FRENCH President Jacques Chirac repeated his condemnation of the Iraq war yesterday and said a Group of Eight summit statement about weapons of mass destruction was not a green light for a similar attack on Iran.

Mr Chirac, whose active opposition to the Iraq war caused a transatlantic rift that overshadowed the three-day summit, said he reiterated his stand to US President George W Bush on Monday but agreed to work together to help reconstruct Iraq.

He rejected suggestions that a G8 summit statement pledging to fight the spread of weapons of mass destruction hinted at a possible attack on Iran, whose nuclear research drive has prompted outside concern it might seek to build nuclear arms.