French President Nicolas Sarkozy (right) is welcomed by his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad at his Presidential Palace in Damascus,. Sarkozy winds up a two-day visit to Syria today with a four-way summit including Turkey and Qatar aimed at boosting the roles of France and the European Union in Middle East diplomacy.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy warned Iran today that its determination to press on with its controversial nuclear drive risked an Israeli strike that would be a "catastrophe."
Sarkozy says "Iran is taking a major risk by continuing the process of seeking nuclear technology for military ends". Sarkozy added that "one day, no matter which Israeli government is in power, one morning we will awake to find Israel has attacked"
"It's not a question of whether it is legitimate or intelligent or not… It would be a catastrophe, and we must avoid such a catastrophe" Says Sarkozy.
Iran has consistently denied that its nuclear programme is aimed at building an atomic bomb and says it wants only to generate energy for its growing population.
But Tehran risks a fourth round of UN sanctions over its failure to abide by international calls to freeze uranium enrichment, a process which makes nuclear fuel but can also be used to build the core of a nuclear weapon.
SAPA-AFP
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