Reuters AlertNet Full site
Homepage | Newsdesk | NGO Latest | Crisis briefings | Country profiles | MediaWatch | Jobs | Alerting | Login

NEWSDESK

Sarkozy urges Israel not to attack Iran
09 Jul 2009 20:03:55 GMT
 Source: Reuters
L'AQUILA, Italy, July 9 (Reuters) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy warned Israel on Thursday that any strike against Iran would be catastrophic for the world and told Tehran to expect more sanctions if it refused to discuss its nuclear programme.

Major powers meeting in Italy have given Iran until September to accept negotiations, but were vague about the possible consequences if it failed to do so.

Western countries believe Iran is trying to build an atomic bomb. Tehran says it developing nuclear technology to generate electricity and has so far rejected all overtures for talks.

There has been constant speculation that Israel might attack Iran to try to destroy its nuclear installations, with U.S. Vice President Joe Biden saying earlier this week that Israel had a sovereign right to decide what were its best interests.

Sarkozy urged against any military action.

"A unilateral attack (by Israel) would be an absolute catastrophe," he told reporters during the annual summit of the Group of Eight rich nations.

"Israel should know that it is not alone and should follow what is going on calmly," he said, adding that he had not received any assurances that Israel would hold off on any action ahead of the September deadline.

Sarkozy said patience with Iran was running thin.

"For the past 6 years we have extended our hand saying stop your nuclear armament programme ... Do they want discussions or don't they want them? If they don't, there will be sanctions," he told reporters.

Russia blocked Western countries at the G8 from immediately pushing for further sanctions. (Writing by Crispian Balmer)


AlertNet news is provided by
Email this article       Send comments

NGO latest

•  Time to show your climate credibility, G8 leaders urged
Christian Aid - UK

•  Phone interview with Robert Przedpelski, camp manager at Swabi camp, Pakistan, Saturday 4 July 2009
Red Cross - UK

•  ACT Alert: flooding in Southern China
ACT - Switzerland

•  China: Counseling Program Helps Earthquake Survivors Rebuild Shattered Lives
ADRA - International

•  Photo exhibition launches in London to mark 150th anniversary of the Red Cross
ICRC - Switzerland

MORE >>

Latest news

•  FACTBOX-Security developments in Afghanistan, July 9

•  U.S. resumes surveillance flights over Pakistan

•  Nigeria to free rebel leader Okah - presidency

•  KEY U.S. SENATE COMMITTEE TO DELAY WRITING CLIMATE CHANGE BILL U

•  Iran police fire in air to disperse protesters

MORE >>

AlertNet news is provided by

Background information

Facts & figures
Italy Iran Israel China United States of America Germany France United Kingdom Canada Russia North Korea

Related articles

Breaking stories
 FACTBOX-Security developments in Afghanistan, July 9 (1 minute ago)

U.S. resumes surveillance flights over Pakistan (1 minute ago)

AlertNet insight
 G8 signals on climate change fall short - experts (1 minute ago)

Aid agency news feed
 Time to show your climate credibility, G8 leaders urged (1 minute ago)

Blogs
 Climate talks need a dose of top-level political will (1 minute ago)

Maps
 Tropical storm Nangka (1 minute ago)


Del.icio.us Del.icio.us  |   Digg Digg  |   NewsVine NewsVine  |   Reddit Reddit   
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2009-07-09T131716Z_01_NIR11_RTRIDSP_2_CHINA-XINJIANG_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/NIR11.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2009-07-09T124332Z_01_NIR17_RTRIDSP_2_CHINA-XINJIANG_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/NIR17.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2009-07-09T123515Z_01_BAG406_RTRIDSP_2_IRAN-IRAQ-DETAINEES_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/BAG406.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2009-07-09T123457Z_01_BAG405_RTRIDSP_2_IRAN-IRAQ-DETAINEES_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/BAG405.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2009-07-09T122943Z_01_NIR13_RTRIDSP_2_CHINA-XINJIANG_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/NIR13.htm

An ethnic Uighur couple waits as a truck loaded with Chinese soldiers is driven out of a temporary base position outside a main mosque in Urumqi in China's Xinjiang Autonomous Region ...


More pictures | Galleries
Disclaimers |  Copyright |  Privacy |  Contact Us |  Feedback |  About Us |  RSS XML

Last updated:Thu Jul 9 20:05:58 2009