Only diplomacy can avert bombs in Iran row: Sarkozy

By Francois Murphy

PARIS (Reuters) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Monday a diplomatic push by the world's powers to rein in Tehran's nuclear programme was the only alternative to "an Iranian bomb or the bombing of Iran".

In his first major foreign policy speech since taking office, Sarkozy emphasized his existing priorities, such as opposing Turkish membership of the European Union and pushing for a new Mediterranean Union that he hopes will include Ankara.

He also offered some new ideas, such as possibly renewing high-level dialogue with Syria and expanding the Group of Eight industrialized nations to include the biggest developing states.

Sarkozy said a nuclear-armed Iran would be unacceptable and that major powers should continue their policy of incrementally increasing sanctions against Tehran while being open to talks if Iran suspended nuclear activities.

"This initiative is the only one that can enable us to escape an alternative that I say is catastrophic: the Iranian bomb or the bombing of Iran," he said, adding that it was the worst crisis currently facing the world.

Tehran says it only wants to generate electricity but it has yet to convince the world's most powerful countries that it is not secretly pursuing nuclear weapons.

In the speech to France's ambassadors, Sarkozy criticized Russia for its dealings on the international stage. "Russia is imposing its return on the world scene by using its assets, notably oil and gas, with a certain brutality," he said.

"When one is a great power, one should not be brutal."

Energy disputes between Russia and neighbors such as Belarus and Ukraine have raised doubts in Europe about Moscow's reliability as a gas exporter. It supplies Europe, via its neighbors, with around a quarter of its gas demands.

Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner later criticized Russia's "oil and gas blackmail", telling the ambassadors that France should not be entirely dependent on Russian gas, and suggesting Norway and Algeria as alternative suppliers.

"There is a slight return of imperialism, as they say, that we do not find very pleasant," Kouchner said of Russia.

Sarkozy had warm words for the United States, saying friendship between the two countries was important. But he said he felt free to disagree with American policies, highlighting what he called a lack of leadership on the environment.

FRANCO-SYRIAN DIALOGUE

He also stuck to Jacque Chirac's demand that a timeline be drawn up for the withdrawal of foreign troops from Iraq.

But Sarkozy broke with his predecessor's policy on Syria, saying he was prepared to hold high-level talks with Damascus if it backed French efforts aimed at ending the political crisis in Lebanon. "If Damascus committed itself to this path, then the conditions for a Franco-Syrian dialogue would be in place."