Sarkozy backs push for Iran sanctions

French president Nicolas Sarkozy has backed Barack Obama’s bid for sanctions against Iran, saying the country could not continue its “mad race” to acquire nuclear weapons.

With Mr Sarkozy at his side, President Obama declared in Washington yesterday that he hoped to have international sanctions against Iran in place “within weeks” rather than months because of its continuing nuclear programme.

But Mr Obama admitted he still lacked full support at the United Nations.

“Do we have unanimity in the international community? Not yet,” he said. “And that’s something that we have to work on.”

Mr Obama said he and Mr Sarkozy were “inseparable” in their thinking on the subject.

Mr Sarkozy told reporters, “Iran cannot continue its mad race” toward acquiring nuclear weapons.

“The time has come to take decisions.”

Iran insists its nuclear programme is for civilian purposes, not nuclear weapons.

On the UN Security Council, veto-holding permanent members Russia and China have expressed reservations towards a tougher set of sanctions, as have several of the rotating members who do not have veto powers.

Mr Obama said he understood that countries that had business ties with Iran, especially those who depended on it for oil, might have reservations.

But he said that, while “the door remains open if the Iranians choose to walk though it”, there had been no signs that it was close to moving back from its nuclear programme and patience had all but run out.

“My hope is that we are going to get this done this spring. So I’m not interested in waiting months for a sanctions regime to be in place. I’m interested in seeing that regime in place in weeks,” he said.

Earlier yesterday, US secretary of state Hillary Clinton predicted new sanctions would be forthcoming, hinting that sceptical nations such as China and Russia would eventually come along.

At the conclusion of an international meeting of eight major powers in Quebec, Canada, Mrs Clinton cited a growing alarm around the world about the consequences of a nuclear-armed Iran.

A senior French official said after the White House meeting that major Western players, including France, were ready to consider unilateral sanctions if they could get a strong enough UN resolution passed.

Mr Obama said he and Mr Sarkozy discussed a wide range of world issues, including the financial regulatory overhaul and peace negotiations in the Middle East.

Mr Sarkozy also said he stood with the US in condemning recent Israeli settlement activity in east Jerusalem.

He said while his own commitment to Israel’s security was well known, the settlement activity in lands claimed by the Palestinians “contributes nothing”.

He also praised Mr Obama for trying to engage the two sides in peace talks and said the “absence of peace” in the region “is a problem for all of us” that fed terrorism around the world.

But on a subject on which the two presidents do not see eye to eye, Mr Sarkozy expressed a widespread European argument that the award of a £23.3bn (€26.17bn) US Air Force refuelling tanker plane was rigged to favour US aerospace giant Boeing over an alliance of the parent company of Europe’s Airbus and the US Lockheed-Martin company.

He said he believed it would be “fair to share this contract with the Europeans” instead of awarding it solely to Boeing.

Mr Obama said that while “the process will be free and fair”, the final decision would be made by defence secretary Robert Gates.

“The secretary of defence makes procurement decisions. The president does not meddle in these decisions,” Mr Obama said.

Mr Obama hailed France as one of America’s oldest and best allies, noting the two countries had fought together on battlefields from Yorktown in the US Revolutionary War to Afghanistan now.

But the two have had clear differences on Afghanistan, with the Obama administration pressing France as well as other European nations to send more troops, and Mr Sarkozy largely resisting such requests.

Instead of troops, France is ready to consider sending more military or police trainers to Afghanistan, according to the French official.

Both presidents went to extraordinary lengths to defuse transatlantic speculation of a chilly relationship.

“We respect one another and understand one another,” Mr Obama said.

A day earlier in New York, Mr Sarkozy spoke bluntly about the US role in foreign affairs, saying the world needed an America that listened.

But when asked directly whether he thought Mr Obama listened to him, he called their relationship candid and productive.

“President Obama, when he says something, keeps his word,” Mr Sarkozy said. “His word is his bond. And that is so important.”