Guardian: "Nuclear-armed Iran would not be very dangerous, says Chirac"

One of the sub-headlines reads "Leader's mental sharpness called into question." I didn't think the folks at the Guardian had it in them:

Jacques Chirac yesterday sparked a diplomatic controversy after saying that a nuclear-armed Iran would not be "very dangerous" and Tehran would be "razed" if it launched a nuclear strike on Israel. He later issued a humiliating retraction.

The French president's comments to journalists prompted speculation as to whether, aged 74 and in the waning months of his second - and probably his last term - he was losing his political touch or even his mental vigour. Some also questioned whether Mr Chirac had simply voiced a fear that a nuclear-armed Iran would be a foregone conclusion.

Mr Chirac prides himself on being an international statesman and is popular in France for his stance against the war in Iraq. He is determined to prove himself on the world stage before the April and May elections, but the international community was astounded by his comments which appeared on US front pages.

In the interview on Monday, which was mainly about climate change, reporters from the International Herald Tribune, The New York Times and the French magazine Le Nouvel Observateur asked Mr Chirac about the current impasse over Iran's nuclear development.

Paris has steadfastly opposed any attempt by Iran to develop nuclear weapons, with Mr Chirac recently accusing Tehran of "feeding the world's apprehension" with its atomic programme.

But the president told the three reporters: "I would say that what is dangerous about this situation is not the fact of having a nuclear bomb. Having one or perhaps a second bomb a little later, well, that's not very dangerous."

He said the danger lies in the chances of proliferation or an arms race in the Middle East should Iran build a nuclear bomb. The weapon would be useless for Iran because using it would mean an instant counterattack, he said. "Where will it drop it, this bomb? On Israel? It would not have gone 200 metres into the atmosphere before Tehran would be razed."

Mr Chirac, who was hospitalised in 2005 for a suspected minor stroke, was reported to have appeared distracted at times during the interview, grasping for names and dates, according to the journalists.

The president called reporters back the next day to try to have his quotes retracted. "I should rather have paid attention to what I was saying and understood that perhaps I was on the record," Mr Chirac said in the second interview. "Sometimes one can drift off, when one believes there are no consequences ... I honestly believed that the questions aside from the environment were off the record."

Tags: Iran, France, nukes, Chirac