French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner says the world should prepare for war over Iran's nuclear programme.

"We have to prepare for the worst, and the worst is war," Mr Kouchner said in an interview on French TV and radio.

Mr Kouchner said negotiations with Iran should continue "right to the end", but an Iranian nuclear weapon would pose "a real danger for the whole world".

Iran has consistently denied it is trying to acquire nuclear weapons but intends to carry on enriching uranium.

Mr Kouchner also said a number of large French companies had been asked not to tender for business in Iran.

I like the new French president! he's not a wuss like Chirac. and unfortunately Kouchner is absolutely right in what he is saying. and Iran needs a serious spanking.

The French are all mouth and trousers!!

Not that 1000 years of conflict has clouded my view in anyway!!!

But this is one of the strongest indications yet of the new Atlanticist accent to French foreign policy under the new President Nicolas Sarkozy.

The hardening of France's position towards Tehran was first signalled by the new president in a speech to French ambassadors last month.

Then he called for tougher economic sanctions against Tehran and warned that if these failed to halt Iran's nuclear programme, there would be, as he put it "a catastrophic choice" between "an Iranian bomb or the bombardment of Iran".

Sounds like a Bushie to me!!!!

Yeah! But its not the French that do the arse kicking!!
It will be us or the Irish!

Nukes nukes hows got the nukes!!!!

apparently the Rothchild's are in control in France...how nice...

I think Chirac was very corrupt. Everything he did was clouded by his personal interests.

Ol' George would never do anything like that!

I have said it before and I will say it again, we had better wake up to the fact that we are in the beginning stages of WW III. There may still be time to head it off if more nations take a hardline stance against terrorists and terrorist nations. It is a very unstable world out there and nukes in the hands of unstable religious zealots and fanatical dictators is not a comforting thought. Sooner or later someone will use one and then all hell is going to break loose.

If the U.N. had any cojones they would take a strong stand against Iran and North Korea, but the U.N. is nothing more than a 3rd world debating society.

Thank God France finally seems to be growing a set of balls.

It was my understanding that all French companies have been asked not to enter into contracts with Iran, not just a few. Its ironic that Germany has just said it will not support any more sanctions against Iran because it would likely interfere with their business interests. Well that's one for two anyway. I am wondering if there are some specific contracts Germany has concerns about and if those might be settled outside of the Iran arena.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said in a televised interview Sunday that European nations should consider sanctions outside the U.N. framework if Iran continues to ignore a Security Council call to halt its production of enriched uranium -- and he added, "We must prepare ourselves for the worst."

In Iran, the response was-
Hosseini (Irans' foreign minister) also said that the use of "convulsive words" ran counter to "the historical, cultural and civilizational dignity and position of France,"

I think they maybe are having some culture shock related to Sarkozy's deference.

While France opposed the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, Kouchner's remarks on Iran follow previous hard-line statements by France's new president, Nicolas Sarkozy. In August, the conservative Sarkozy said a nuclear-armed Iran was "not acceptable."

"I think there is a new France since Sarkozy came to power," Dominique Moisi, an analyst at the French Institute on Foreign Relations, told CNN. "There is a new style of diplomatic content, and obviously there is a new relationship with the U.S. and Washington"

Oh well.

Sarkozy could be a Frenchman to do business with ... Merde! I never thought I would hear myself say that!!!

But then I guess he is from an immigrant family, so he may have some better views that your common-or-garden French politician