Chirac to oppose Bush's call for slapping sanctions on Iran

UNITED NATIONS — As world leaders converged Monday on the United Nations, French President Jacques Chirac dealt a significant blow to the Bush administration's effort to slow Iran's nuclear development, saying his government would join Russia and China in resisting the U.S. push for sanctions against Iran.

"I am never in favor of sanctions," Chirac told Europe 1 radio in an interview on the eve of the General Assembly's annual debate. "I have never observed that sanctions were very effective."

Chirac proposed a compromise in which the Security Council would suspend the threat of sanctions and Iran would suspend enrichment of uranium while the two sides talk.

As a last resort, after diplomacy has been exhausted, France might consider penalties, he said, but only "moderate and adapted" sanctions.

The divisions over sanctions seem likely not only to complicate policy toward Iran but also to affect the administration's efforts to win international help on other issues, diplomats and analysts say.

Bush arrived in New York to attend the 61st session of the world body with problems at home and abroad that have narrowed his room to maneuver on the international stage.

The U.S.-led war in Iraq is in its fourth year, with no end to sectarian violence in sight.

Support is dwindling for imposing sanctions against Iran for defying U.N. demands that it halt certain nuclear work. The repressive Taliban regime toppled in Afghanistan is showing new resilience. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict continues, and Lebanon's government has, so far, proved too weak to rein in militant group Hezbollah.

At home, Bush's approval rating, while seeing a recent uptick, stands at about 40 percent. Americans are growing weary of the war. The White House is in a showdown with Senate Republicans over the interrogation and trying of terror suspects. And elections for control of Congress are seven weeks away.

The president's so-called freedom agenda is the theme of his speech today to the U.N. General Assembly. He will focus on democratic reforms in Iraq, Afghanistan and Lebanon and elsewhere in the Mideast. He'll seek to quell skepticism about U.S. motives in the Mideast by working to avoid the impression he wants to see a U.S.-style democracy imposed on any nation.

The president also is expected to firmly denounce Iran and Syria, two nations Bush says are working to thwart freedom in the region. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also planned to be at the U.N., but Bush had no intention of talking with him.

Bush plans to make Iran a centerpiece of his address, explaining why he considers Tehran's regime to be a grave threat and insisting that sanctions be imposed if talks fail.

He will also talk about the administration's policies in Iraq and its support for a peacekeeping mission in the Darfur region of Sudan, even in the face of opposition from the Sudanese government.

But on each issue, Washington finds itself on the opposite side from several Security Council members, including Russia and China, which both have veto power in the council.

Those two, backed by other council members such as Qatar, insist the U.N. must not go against a national government's wishes, even when the international community does not agree with its actions.

France supports the U.S. on most of those issues, so when it joins the opposition as on Iran, it lends the other side considerable weight, say analysts.

"As preceding the Iraq war, Chirac's public comments are unfortunate, because France is a very powerful player," said Judith Kipper, a Mideast expert at the Council on Foreign Relations.

"It could encourage the Iranians and countries that are anti-American to believe that the United States is isolated. And if President Bush believes that there is no cooperation from the Security Council, it may encourage him to believe the only option is to strike Iran," she said.

White House officials said their position on Iran had not changed, with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice scheduled to talk with U.S. allies in New York this week about a possible resolution calling for sanctions.

Bush is scheduled to meet today with Chirac, and Rice plans to dine tonight with the other countries negotiating with Iran: Britain, China, Russia, France, Germany and, as of Monday, Italy.