Nuclear-armed Iran 'unacceptable', says Sarkozy

A nuclear-armed Iran would be unacceptable and a threat to regional security, French presidential hopeful Nicolas Sarkozy said today.

However, the French interior minister cautioned against repeating the mistakes made in Iraq.

“The prospect of an Iran with nuclear missiles is not acceptable,” he said in laying out his foreign policy plans if he becomes president after elections in April and May.

It is a “constant threat for the existence of Israel and south-east Europe,” he said.

He expressed support for the UN sanctions imposed on Iran for defying Security Council demands to halt uranium enrichment. “I want to go as far as possible with sanctions,” said Sarkozy.

On Monday, Sarkozy said that he would not join the United States if it decided to carry out military action in Iran, and said hints from the US that it had not ruled out military action in Iran were “useless posturing.”

Today, he warned against repeating “what happened in Iraq.”

France led international opposition to the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, but Sarkozy has set himself apart from President Jacques Chirac by calling for closer ties with the United States.

Sarkozy has also urged the United States to fix a “horizon” for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq.